IRS refuses to follow the law
In 2015, Congress adopted the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR) as part of the tax code. Congress also affirmatively required the IRS Commissioner to ensure that IRS employees “are familiar with and act in accord with taxpayer rights.” Said another way, the IRS is required to train its employees to know and respect taxpayer rights in their dealings with citizens. It might come as no surprise that the IRS is failing to provide adequate training on the TBOR to its employees. Worse, the failure is deliberate. The National Taxpayer Advocate reported in both her 2016 and 2017 Annual Reports to Congress that the IRS failed to carry out its duties regarding TBOR “in a comprehensive or strategic manner.” The Taxpayer Advocate recommended that the IRS develop an annual “mandatory briefing” for all employees that will “foster an employee culture that respects taxpayer rights.” And while the IRS uses mandatory briefings for an array of topics, the agency flat out refused to develop one for the TBOR. In light of this, one has to wonder just how committed the IRS is to respecting taxpayer rights. That’s why I say in How to Win Your Tax Audit, if you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any.
