On September 30th, the Senate passed the Taxpayer Assistance and Service (TAS) Act, a bipartisan tax administration package containing almost 60 provisions, which proposed legislation is aimed at upgrading service at the IRS as well as enhancing access to the judicial system. Given its bipartisan nature, one would think that the House will follow suit. Presently, the House has been working on a package of its own, but the House presently is on recess for the mid-term elections, so nothing will be happening until the lame duck session. However, there is a lot to look forward to in the proposal. Here are some of the provisions contained in the Senate proposal:
- The ability to use the Tax Court for refund cases.
- A requirement of the IRS to digitize all paper-filed returns and any correspondence it receives from taxpayers, which is aimed at accelerating case handling.
- The creation of an IRS backlog and wait-time dashboard so that taxpayers can monitor service delays.
- Enhanced online taxpayer accounts, which will enable taxpayers and their representatives to access returns, correspondence and other information electronically.
- Improvement of the “Where’s My Refund?” tool to provide more detailed refund status information.
- Expansion of callback technology for IRS phone assistance, which is aimed at reducing hold times.
- Improved regulation of paid tax return preparers.
- Extension of the mailbox rule to electronic filings and payments, providing certainty comparable to timely-mailed paper submissions.
Current developments always are a major topic of discussion at every Tax Planning Forum® and Fundamentals of Flow-Through® program. We hope that you will consider attending either or both of these virtual or in-person programs or our new Fundamentals QAS self-study program. Registration is in full swing, and we encourage you to register soon, especially if you are interested in either of our in-person programs in Las Vegas or Orlando where space is limited.
