Why the IRS Is Making a Big Tax Collecting Change — and How It Affects You
Written by
David Nadelle
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Nicholas Morine
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In what its calls a “major policy change,” the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced July 24 that it would be discontinuing its practice of unannounced visits to taxpayers. The agency cited a need to increase safety standards for the public and its employees — and to stop scam artists from posing as IRS agents to threaten taxpayers.
The change is part of a larger operational policy reconstruction brought upon by the passing of the last year’s Inflation Reduction Act as well as the delivery of the new IRS Strategic Operating Plan in April.
“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,” IRS commissioner Danny Werfel said. “Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees.”
For decades, IRS employees have sometimes visited taxpayers in person, unannounced and unarmed, to resolve account balances and to collect unpaid taxes and unfiled returns.
However, since the Inflation Reduction Act provided for an increase in funding to help improve IRS services and technology, a number of Republican lawmakers assumed this money would be used to increase the number of employees and, in turn, escalate audits. This would ostensibly lead to unwanted and unnecessary home visits.
As CBS News reported, false and exaggerated information about IRS operating policies has resulted in its employees feeling less safe. Some agency antagonists went as far as to jump on social media and warn people of the IRS’s intention to arm its agents on taxpayer visits. This view has been vehemently denied by the IRS and its union, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).
In a separate statement released on July 24, NTEU National President Tony Reardon supported the IRS’s decision, chastising Republicans in Congress for spreading “hostile rhetoric and false claims.”
“As long as elected officials continue to mislead the American people about the legal, legitimate role that IRS employees play in our democracy, NTEU will continue to insist on better security for the employees we represent,” said Reardon.
“It is outrageous that our nation’s civil servants have to live in fear just because they chose a career in public service,” he stated. “Once again, I call on certain members of Congress to immediately stop spreading lies about the IRS and its employees and recognize that their inflammatory comments can have dangerous consequences.”
Regardless, unannounced home and business visits have ceased to exist as of Monday’s announcement. Any taxpayer that would have previously been visited unannounced by an IRS officer for a return or filing issue will now be mailed a “725-B” letter to schedule in-person meetings. However, the IRS’s criminal investigation unit will continue to operate in its enforcement capacity, which may include unannounced visits to serve a summons or subpoena, or “when there’s an enforcement action like the seizure of assets at risk of being removed from the U.S.,” per Accounting Today.
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