Appeals Should Facilitate Mutual Respect and Trust by Allowing Taxpayers a Choice in the Expanded Participation of Counsel and Compliance in Appeals Conferences

I have written a lot about my concerns regarding Appeals’ independence over the years. Most recently, in my 2016 Annual Report to Congress, I discussed Appeals’ reluctance to co...

Success Story: TAS helps taxpayer receive timely refund claim

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues. All personal details ar...

The IRS’s New Passport Program: How Lack of Notice Harms Taxpayers (Part 2 of 2)

In my first blog on passport issues, I discussed the importance of providing notice to taxpayers prior to certifying their seriously delinquent tax debts to the Department of State (DOS). Once the ...

NTA Nina Olson discusses TBOR with Private Debt Collectors

The National Taxpayer Advocate reviewed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights with the four private collection agencies selected for the Private Debt Collection program under the Fixing America’s S...

The IRS’s New Passport Program: Why Notice to Taxpayers Matters (Part 1 of 2)

In 2015, I wrote a blog post analyzing IRS collection performance, looking at the effects of different drivers of collection such as notices, installment agreements, liens, levies, and refund offse...

Taxpayers are invited to provide comments on the new IRS.gov Test Homepage – Let Your Voice Be Heard

    The IRS is a few months away from launching new look and feel to the IRS’s website (IRS.gov) and you have an opportunity to review the new Homepage about i...

Sharing Economy Tax Information

Many taxpayers work or engage in services that are considered to be a part of the gig or shared economy services. These services often originate through peer-to-peer interactions such as ride-share...

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson testifies on IRS Reform before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight today at a hearing entitled, “IRS Reform: Lessons Learned from the National Ta...

National Taxpayer Advocate Public Forum Transcripts

"[You] ask people, okay, if you had the choice between trying to find the answer to a government question online, yourself, or just picking up the phone and calling somebody, which would you pre...

Success Story: TAS assists victims of VITA Site Preparer Fraud

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues. All personal details ar...