IRS To End One Type Of Taxpayer Notice This Year
Tax News
The Internal Revenue Service said it will temporarily pause one of its notices to taxpayers, in an attempt to reduce aggravation during the tax-filing season that has plenty of challenges. While tax-practitioner organizations applauded the step, they said there was more the IRS could do to help taxpayers lower their blood pressure.
Welcome News
The IRS said that it was suspending notices issued when the agency’s systems show a tax bill has been paid but no income-tax return has been filed. If the IRS has your return in physical form, you’ll receive a notice that it’s been received, the agency said. “Stopping these letters — will help many taxpayers avoid confusion,” the IRS said.
According to Erin Collins, the IRS’ National Taxpayer Advocate, as of late December the IRS was coping with a backlog of 6 million unprocessed tax returns, 2 million unprocessed amended returns, and 5 million pieces of taxpayer correspondence. In response, U.S. senators and a coalition of tax-preparer organizations suggest that the IRS use various tools to smooth out the filing season this year, including a brief pause for the coming months on all automated collection and compliance notices.
The Problem
The IRS, however, said that it has to send the letters because, in many cases, it is legally required and cannot stop just because Congress has not modified the law. “We will continue to explore areas where the IRS can make changes and are in the process of reviewing the full set of notices that we send to determine where we can make adjustments while we continue to work through unprocessed returns and taxpayer correspondence,” said the agency.
“The actions taken today by the IRS signal the desire to help taxpayers, but we believe there is more they can do,” said Barry Melancon, President, and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, one of the tax groups that disagrees with the IRS’s assertion that legislative action is needed to suspend the issuance of notices.
If you got a Child Tax Credit (CTC) advance payment in July through December, don’t be surprised if your tax bill looks different next year. Some notices on prior CTC payments are incorrect, according to some tax professionals.
The IRS pointed out that the problems with “Letter 6419” are isolated.
“The IRS is reviewing the situation, but we believe this is a limited group of taxpayers involved out of a much larger set of advance Child Tax Credit recipient,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “There is no indication to support speculation that this could involve hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.”
Bottomline
The IRS is making a substantial step to ease the process of doing taxes. However, tax groups and tax advocates say that they can do more to make the lives of taxpayers easier when tax day comes. As a taxpayer, news like this can be overwhelming since it adds up to the already vast information needed to properly file your taxes. If you don’t want to tangle or burden yourself with keeping up with the latest tax news, you can always talk to a tax professional! Send us a message today and we’ll help make your life as a taxpayer easier.
