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IRS Chief voices concerns about future of tax collection efforts

July 31, 2017

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The Internal Revenue Services (IRS) commissioner recently testified at the Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing on the potential for serious issues in future tax collection efforts.

Ultimately, his message is that the agency continues to receive subpar funding. Without proper funds, he contends, the agency cannot perform its job well. This could lead to questions about where tax dollars are going. Such questions could build and begin to have an impact on the willingness of taxpayers to comply with current tax laws.

A more immediate concern is the impact of efforts to increase the efficiency of the agency so that it can continue operations without the funds it needs.

Can efforts at increasing efficiencies result in problems for taxpayers? In short, yes, some of the changes made for the sake of efficiency could cause problems for taxpayers.

Two specific efforts that have resulted in concerns about the impact on taxpayers include cuts to personnel that are available to answer taxpayers’ questions and outsourcing collection efforts.

As noted in a previous post, one way the IRS is attempting to cut down in costs is by outsourcing collection efforts. The hope is that these agencies can follow up on collection of tax debt, something the agency currently claims it lacks the resources to complete. Critics have voiced concerns that this could result in abusive collection practices.

What does this mean for taxpayers? Unfortunately, these changes could mean tax issues are about to get even more complex. Taxpayers that are contacted by the IRS may now have to navigate different collection agencies to come into compliance while getting less help from the agency to understand what the issue is in the first place.

As a result, anyone that is contacted by the IRS is wise to seek legal counsel. An experienced tax relief attorney will work in your best interests, counseling you on the best course of action to deal with your tax issues.

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