Amid IRS budget and staffing cuts, the Texas Society of CPAs is urging the agency to take several steps to address delays in processing of time-sensitive taxpayer correspondence.
In a June 3 letter to Acting IRS Commissioner Michael Faulkender, TXCPA’s Federal Tax Policy Committee contends that the delays — which it attributes to both current IRS systems and a slow U.S. Postal Service — create additional work for both the agency and taxpayers. And though the agency has been working to modernize its systems, the TXCPA says it can make some changes in the interim to ease taxpayer stress.
One key recommendation is that the IRS build paper mailing delays into its notice processes to avoid erroneous late notices. TXCPA explains that while taxpayers and practitioners may be given 30 days from the date of a notice to respond, notices sometimes are not delivered until 10-14 days after they are dated. While the group suspects the IRS already post-dates some notices to allow for delays, it contends the agency does not follow a consistent process.
TXCPA recommends that the IRS implement “a three-week pause before notices, including for example, Notices of Deficiency, after the 30-day deadline stated in the revenue agent’s report are sent out.”
The group doesn’t propose a change in due dates or the application of interest, penalties, and sanctions — it simply suggests building in more time for “delivery and recording of receipt of a submission before a notice is sent out.” This change, says TXCPA, would prevent the agency from “having to correct incorrect notices” and would increase efficiency and reduce taxpayer stress.
IRS mailroom procedures could also be improved, says the group. It recommends the agency consider using a bar code or QR code to be attached by taxpayers to their correspondence. This change “would allow IRS mailroom staff to efficiently log in the item, to associate it with the IRS’s taxpayer case computer file and to notify all involved.”
Other suggestions include maintaining simple technology, such as a facsimile option, “until online communication tools are easily understandable and more commonly adopted.” The group calls on the IRS to ensure fax machines are operational and fax numbers are provided on taxpayer notices.
TXCPA urges the IRS to continue its efforts to modernize and improve secure online communication tools, including ID.me and document upload. However, it contends that “these systems are frequently difficult to use and IRS representatives, as well as practitioners, often do not know how to use them.”
For more on faxed signatures on correspondence and documents, see Checkpoint’s Federal Tax Coordinator ¶ S-4519.
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