TAS Tax Tip: It’s Always a Good time to Check Your Tax Withholding

Finished with your 2018 tax return? If you are, and even if you are not, now might be a good time to check your tax withholding amount for this year, 2019, by doing a paycheck check-up now so you have the right amount of taxes withheld in your paycheck each week. No one likes surprises come tax time and this will hopefully eliminate the chance of any surprise. Why check it at all? The...

NTA Blog: Fraud Detection Filters: Recent Changes in the IRS Fraud Detection Program May Reduce Taxpayer Burden While Continuing to Stop Fraudulent Refunds

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. Over the years I have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the IRS’s Identity Theft (IDT) and non-IDT refund fraud programs. Most recently I expressed these co...

NTA Blog: FREE FILE: The Free File Program Is Failing to Achieve Its Objectives and Should be Substantially Improved or Eliminated

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. In this week’s blog, I highlight my concerns with the IRS Free File program, which I also discussed in my 2018 Annual Report to Congress and my recent testimon...

TAS office intake numbers are being used in scam calls to taxpayers

Certain TAS telephone numbers are being used in a spoofing scam. Taxpayers are targeted by either robocalls or live solicitors claiming to be with TAS or the IRS. The caller ID displays a TAS number, but it is a scam. If you receive such a call, report it immediately to https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml. For more information, see the Report Phishing and Online Scams page ...

TAS Tax Tip: Claiming the EITC or CTC Credit this year? Here are some tips…

Are you planning on claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Child Tax Credit (CTC) on your federal tax return this year? If yes, then you should know some things have changed since last year. Child Tax Credit The first thing you need to be aware of is that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed the requirement for claiming the CTC. Eligible children must have a Social Security Number (SS...

NTA Blog: The IRS Office of Chief Counsel is Using Email to Avoid Disclosure of Program Manager Technical Advice

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. This blog highlights problems with the transparency of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), which I discussed in the 2018 Annual Report to Congress (ARC). I also d...

Register now for the 4th International Conference on Taxpayer Rights in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 23-24, 2019

The National Taxpayer Advocate of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is convening the fourth International Conference on Taxpayer Rights on May 23-24, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference is hosted by the University of Minnesota School of Law and sponsored by Tax Analysts and American College of Tax Counsel, with technical assistance by International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation. T...

Taxpayer Advocate Service Toll-Free Line Is Experiencing High Call Volumes

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is currently experiencing very high call volumes on its toll-free telephone line. Many taxpayers facing refund delays are calling to request our assistance, and as a result, taxpayers calling to set up new cases with us are often experiencing lengthy hold times. TAS is committed to serving our taxpayers, and we sincerely apologize for these delays. We are ta...

NTA Blog: A Personal Message from the National Taxpayer Advocate

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. On this date eighteen years ago – March 1st, 2001 – I walked through the doors of the IRS headquarters building in Washington, DC to begin my tenure as N...

NTA Blog: We’re Baaaaaack!

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. Well. It’s been a while since we’ve sent out an NTA Blog — ten weeks, to be exact. We had intended to take a break while we finalized the Annual Re...