National Taxpayer Advocate Service: Resolve Tax Problems with Free Help

The National Taxpayer Advocate Service operates as an independent organization within the IRS. The service assists taxpayers, individuals and businesses who are unable to resolve their tax problems, either due to delays (longer than 30 days) or financial hardship. The service encourages taxpayers to contact its office for help with tax problems that cannot be resolved through normal IRS channels or if a tax problem was not resolved by the date promised by the IRS.

The Role of the National Taxpayer Advocate Service

The National Taxpayer Advocate Service is a valuable resource for U.S. taxpayers. In addition to assisting taxpayers for free, the National Taxpayer Advocate Service serves to identify issues that cause problems for taxpayers; this includes issues that compromise taxpayer rights or increase taxpayers’ burdens. The service continually brings these issues to the IRS’s attention and formally recommends potential solutions, including legislative remedies, through an annual report to Congress. The 2007 report, released on January 9, 2008, identifies over 25 different issues affecting U.S. taxpayers.

How to Contact the National Taxpayer Advocate Service

By Phone: Taxpayers have the choice of contacting the national office’s main case line at 1-877-777-4778 or contacting their Local Taxpayer Advocate. Local advocate offices are searchable by state on the IRS website.

On Paper: Taxpayers may use Form 911 (appropriately numbered) to request assistance.

Via a Third Party: Someone else may work with the service on a taxpayer’s behalf, but that person must have Power of Attorney. To go this route, file Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative.

In some cases, a third party may simply need access to a taxpayer’s case information, but does not need Power of Attorney. In that situation, a taxpayer may file Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, to authorize third-party access to case information.

Working with the National Taxpayer Advocate Service

Taxpayers who request assistance from the National Taxpayer Advocate Service will find the following:

According to the national office, there is at least one local advocate office in each state that is independent of the local IRS office; therefore, taxpayers should be able to rest assured that the Local Taxpayer Advocate reports directly to the National Taxpayer Advocate and not the local IRS office.

Taxpayers may download the forms mentioned above from the IRS website. In addition to the free resources covered in this article, certain taxpayers are eligible for free federal tax return preparation assistance through the IRS-sponsored programs.

Apr 3, 2009 9:24 PM

Guest :

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) has talked about the IRS's shortcomings, ruffled a few feathers, and wrote some tough reports. Unfortunately, TAS has not been able to get very much accomplished other then create a high employee turnover rate. TAS tried to simplify the tax code by creating a standard definition of a child. When all was said and done, TAS only made matters worse. So much worse, the law had to be amended.

TAS also destroyed the very program in the IRS that was set up to assist taxpayers. Before TAS, if you needed help with a tax problem that was not dealt with satisfactorily through normal channels the IRS would transfer your case over to a group that had the experience in your particular issue and the authority to fix your problem on the spot. TAS has forsaken this logic. Now if you need help and your case is transferred over to TAS it will most likely be assigned to someone that is not experienced or even properly trained to assist you. Moreover, even if the employee understands your situation they will not be able to fix it. They will have to turn around and request the IRS to fix it. Not only is this a poor way to assist taxpayers it also costs taxpayers more money.

TAS has an important role of advocating for all taxpayers. While TAS does an adequate job of this, it does not advocate very well for the individual taxpayer who comes into their office for assistance. For that reason, TAS employees that work with taxpayers should be reassigned back to the IRS where they will be better trained and better able to quickly assist taxpayers in their moment of need.