IMRS Monthly Overview – May 2012
The IMRS Monthly Overview provides synopses of some of the issues that were received and/or closed by the Issue Management Resolution System staff during the past month. The Monthly Overview is intended to inform the public about the work of IMRS, and highlights the issues that we think would be of most interest to external stakeholders. When the Monthly Overview is posted to IRS.gov, a tweet goes out to Twitter followers of @IRStaxpros. Please sign up if you would like to be notified.
NEW IMRS ISSUES
Policy, Practice, Procedures
IMRS Issue 12-0001617 – Lack of procedures for authorized third-party contacts in identity theft cases
Issue: Authorized third-party representatives are reporting that the IRS will not communicate with them to resolve the accounts of taxpayers who receive Letter 4883C, Potential Identity Theft in Original Processing. There should be procedures to allow IRS customer service representatives to speak with authorized third parties to address the receipt of Letter 4883C.
IMRS 12-0001618 – Form W-7 acceptance agents received notification of termination during filing season
Issue: Acceptance agents are required to submit W-7 applications annually to remain active in the program. Agents who had no record of submitting a W-7 during calendar year 2011 received notification of termination in March 2012. The mid-filing season notification proved problematic and burdensome. The agents request reconsideration of the timing of the notification.
Forms, Publications & Products
IMRS Issue 12-0001627 – Invalid phone number on “Where’s My Refund” page
Issue: The phone number displayed on the “Where’s My Refund” webpage is not functioning.
RECENTLY CLOSED ISSUES
Policy, Practice & Procedures
IMRS Issue 12-0001555 – Non-issuance of letters/notices to practitioners with valid POA certifications on file.
Issue: Several tax practitioners stated that they did not receive copies of letters/notices sent to their clients even though a valid power of attorney authorization was on file.
Response: Generally, correspondence to taxpayers and their representatives is systemically issued. Recently, the IRS discovered that a systemic problem resulted in the non-issuance of letters/notices to several tax practitioners with valid authorizations on file. We have corrected the problem.
IMRS Issue 11-0001457 – Refusal of ITIN Unit to provide information to third party when F-2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, was not attached to W-7
Issue: Tax practitioners with a valid power of attorney on file said that the ITIN Unit refuses to speak to them if the F-2848 was not attached to the original W-7. The Internal Revenue Manual does not address this specific situation.
Response: This suggestion was elevated and reviewed. We updated IRM 3.21.263.7(1) to refer assistors to the disclosure guidelines in IRM 21.1.3.3. This section advises assistors that when they respond to a third party (anyone other than the taxpayer) who indicates he/she has a third-party authorization on file, they should complete the appropriate search. For Powers of Attorney and Tax Information Authorizations, assistors should research the Centralized Authorization File before providing any tax account information.
We also updated IRM 3.21.263.7(2) to remind assistors to review the remarks screens because that is where POA information received after initial processing is loaded.
NOTE: Current and previous reports are also available on this site. The monthly overviews are posted for the prior two years through the current month. You can also access reports for issues closed in prior years on the same page. We invite you to raise your issues/concerns with your local stakeholder liaison.
