A diverse coalition comprised of AICPA and ten other tax practitioner organizations sent an open letter to the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service calling for immediate action to meaningfully reduce unnecessary frustrations for taxpayers and tax professionals in the upcoming tax season.
The letter highlights recent admissions by the IRS regarding historically low service levels, including the backlog of unprocessed returns, the agency’s inability to answer 97% of the phone calls it receives, and the issuance of mistargeted notices, liens, and levies.
The coalition urges four commonsense, reasonable administrative steps the IRS should take to ease the burden on taxpayers and tax professionals:
- Discontinue automated compliance actions until the IRS is prepared to devote the necessary resources for a proper and timely resolution of the matter.
- Align requests for account holds with the time it takes the IRS to process any penalty abatement requests.
- Offer a reasonable cause penalty waiver, similar to the procedures of first time abate (FTA) administrative waiver, without affecting the taxpayer’s eligibility for FTA in future tax years.
- Provide taxpayers with targeted relief from both the underpayment of estimated tax penalty and the late payment penalty for the 2020 and 2021 tax year.
The coalition plans to conduct a media briefing on January 25 and a virtual Town Hall on February 8. Additional details about both events will be announced soon.
The letter is also signed by Latino Tax Pro, the National Association of Black Accountants, National Association of Enrolled Agents, National Association of Tax Professionals, National Conference of CPA Practitioners, National Society of Accountants, National Society of Black Certified Public Accountants, National Society of Tax Professionals, Padgett Business Services, and Prosperity Now.
If you have questions about this issue or other policy matters, please contact NCACPA Director of Advocacy Robert Broome, CAE.