IRS Ending Unannounced Visits Over Safety Concerns
The days of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent showing up unannounced to collect past due taxes or returns are just about over.
The IRS says it’s ending most unannounced visits by revenue officers to taxpayers as the agency continues its modernization effort following the infusion of billions in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The goal is to “reduce public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.”
The unannounced revenue officer visits will end effectively immediately. Instead, letters will be mailed to schedule meetings.
Unannounced visits will still occur in “extremely limited situations” including the serving of summonses or subpoenas and sensitive enforcement activities.
"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," stated IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. "Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees."
Safety Concerns Drive Change
Commissioner Werfel pointed to increased security concerns, including an increase in scam artists posing as IRS revenue officers, as well as safety concerns for the IRS revenue officers themselves.
“This is the right thing to do and the right time to end it," said Commissioner Werfel.
Commissioner Werfel pointed out that scheduling meetings will give revenue officers and taxpayers more time to prepare and gather documents, will cut down on the need for future meetings, and will free up officers to deal with other issues.
Commissioner Werfel said the change also helps meet one of the agency’s key goals under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which is giving taxpayers access and resolving issues more quickly.
The move was lauded by IRS employee organizations, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).
“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,” said NTEU President Tony Reardon.
The IRS is currently implementing its strategic plan, which was developed after the IRA earmarked $80 billion to the agency over the next decade. Besides improving service, the modernization plan calls for modernizing technology and using data and analytics to improve the taxpayer experience.
“The better the data, the better our analytics, the more accurate we’re going to be, and therefore, the more often when we’re reaching out to a taxpayer and reaching out to one that is in a significant tax issue versus an honest taxpayer,” Commissioner Werfel told reporters.