Finger ringing doorbell.
gettyThat unexpected knock on your door? It is likely not an IRS employee. The nation’s tax agency has announced a major policy change: it will end most unannounced visits to taxpayers by agency revenue officers.
The change is being made, IRS says, “to reduce public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.”
This is a significant turnabout for the 2,300 IRS Revenue Officers, whose duties include visiting taxpayers to resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns. Despite recent misrepresentations, those visits were made by IRS Revenue Officers who were unarmed.
An IRS Revenue Agent is an auditor of tax returns—they typically have a degree in accounting or related field, and receive additional tax training from the IRS. They may work with individual taxpayers, as well as businesses.
An IRS Revenue Officer is not an auditor—they’re primarily focused on collections, including issuing liens and levies. IRS Revenue Officers are typically involved in working significant tax debts. According to Werfel, the median debt that an IRS Revenue Officer is seeking to collect is $110,000.
IRS Revenue Agents and IRS Revenue Officers are both different from Special Agents who work criminal matters with IRS-Criminal Investigations. IRS-CI is the sixth-largest law enforcement agency in the US. There are about 3,000 employees in CI—about 70% of whom are special agents, and only those special agents carry firearms. This announcement does not affect them.
NTEU Response
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents federal employees in 34 departments and agencies, including the IRS, supports the policy change.
“NTEU welcomes the IRS decision to halt unannounced visits by IRS Field Collection employees,” said Tony Reardon, NTEU National President. “The safety of IRS employees is of paramount importance and this decision will help protect those whose jobs have only grown more dangerous in recent years because of false, inflammatory rhetoric about the agency and its workforce. We applaud Commissioner Werfel’s quick action after hearing the safety concerns raised by NTEU leaders and IRS Field Collection employees who faced dangerous situations that put their safety at risk. We look forward to working with the IRS on this and other actions to protect the safety of all IRS employees.”
Safety
Safety is clearly an issue. According to the IRS, these unannounced visits to homes and businesses presented risks for IRS Revenue Officers. The IRS notes that Revenue Officers routinely faced hazards and uncertainty making unannounced visits to attempt to resolve delinquent tax matters.
Taxpayer Confusion
There have also been concerns about scams. The growth in scam artists bombarding taxpayers has increased confusion about home visits by IRS Revenue Officers. Sometimes scam artists appear at the door posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for taxpayers and local law enforcement.
That made it difficult for taxpayers to distinguish between real IRS representatives and imposters. Earlier this year, Floyd County, Georgia, residents were shocked when they saw a man visiting homes claiming to be from the IRS. Several residents called the police—one even sent them a video of the man who claimed to be an IRS worker. He really was from the IRS, but residents were rattled nonetheless.
“These visits created extra anxiety for taxpayers already wary of potential scam artists,” Werfel said. “At the same time, the uncertainty around what IRS employees faced when visiting these homes created stress for them as well. This is the right thing to do and the right time to end it.”
Additional Changes
The change reflects the ongoing evolution of tax administration work taking place. Werfel noted that additional funding provided under the Inflation Reduction Act would add more staffing for compliance work. The IRS continues to focus on key areas, such as high-income taxpayers with tax issues, as efforts continue to transform the IRS. Improved analytics will also help IRS compliance efforts focus on those with the most serious tax issues.
Appointment Letters
Keep checking your mail. Instead of the unannounced visits, Revenue Officers will contact taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B letter. With that letter, taxpayers whose cases are assigned to a Revenue Officer can schedule face-to-face meetings at a set place and time, with the necessary information and documents in hand, to resolve their cases more quickly.
That means, says IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, that, “starting today, if someone is ringing your doorbell, it is extremely unlikely” to be an IRS employee, unless you have made an appointment.
Werfel said, “We are taking a fresh look at how the IRS operates to better serve taxpayers and the nation, and making this change is a common-sense step. Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees.”
Limited Visits Will Still Occur
The IRS noted there will still be extremely limited situations where unannounced visits will occur. These rare instances include the service of summonses and subpoenas, as well as sensitive enforcement activities involving the seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government. To put this in perspective, these situations typically number less than a few hundred each year—a small fraction compared to the tens of thousands of unannounced visits under the old policy.
IRS Strategic Operating Plan
These changes are part of the IRS Strategic Operating Plan, unveiled in April. With 10-year funding available from last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has set in motion an effort to transform the agency to improve taxpayer service, add fairness to tax compliance efforts, and modernize technology to serve taxpayers better, tax professionals, and the nation.
This clear policy shift will, says Werfel, be good for the IRS and for taxpayers. “We have the tools we need to successfully collect revenue without adding stress with unannounced visits,” Werfel said. “The only losers with this change in policy are scammers posing as the IRS.”
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