IMRS Monthly Overview - March 2011
NEW IMRS ISSUES
Policy, Practice & Procedures
IMRS Issue 11-0001434 – Guidelines for documentation requests in global high wealth industry audits
Issue: Practitioners would like clarification regarding the amount of time allowed to provide documentation when complying with information document requests issued to individuals under audit by the Global High Wealth Industry group in the Large Business and International division.
IMRS Issue 11-0001433 – Disclosure of excess information when QuickBooks provided during audit
Issue: Practitioners are concerned that when QuickBooks records are provided to IRS upon request, there is no way to limit access to other years. What is the practitioner liability when turning over this information in this format, and can the practitioner obtain assurances that the IRS will not use or view other years’ information?
RECENTLY CLOSED ISSUES
Campus
IMRS 11-0001419 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit notice
Issue: A tax practitioner stated that a client who purchased a home in 2008 received a notice indicating that he was not required to repay the First-Time Homebuyer Credit.
Response: The taxpayer’s amended return claiming the $7500 First-Time Homebuyer Credit was incorrectly coded as a 2009 purchase. The taxpayer received the CP 03b notice, which says the credit does not have to be repaid instead of the CP 03a which states the credit has to be repaid over 15 years. The taxpayer's account has now been corrected to reflect a 2008 purchase year, and the first $500 installment is due with his 2010 tax return. We will send a letter of explanation to the taxpayer.
Policy, Practice & Procedures
IMRS Issue 06-0000208 – New procedures for handling payments in Taxpayer Assistance Centers
Issue: Practitioners raised concerns that assistors at the TACs were refusing to accept payments, documents and returns requested by revenue officers or other Small Business/Self-Employed IRS employees if the requesting employee was not available to accept them.
Response: We developed procedures for the consistent handling of remittances and other documents received in IRS offices. If a remittance is made by check at a TAC and the requesting employee is not available, the TAC will process the payment and provide the requesting employee with a photocopy of the payment and indicate where the payment was applied. If the IRS representative cannot determine the intended recipient or application of a remittance received in an IRS facility, the remittance will be sent to one of our submission processing sites for research and appropriate application.
If tax returns or other documents are brought to the TAC and the requesting employee is unavailable, the TAC will accept the documents and place them in a secure (locking) location in the TAC. On a daily basis, an SB/SE representative will pick up the documents.
Internal Revenue Manual sections IRM 21.3.4.8.5 Documents and IRM 21.3.4.7.10, Payments, contain the new procedures.
IMRS Issue 10-0001204– Notice of Federal Tax Lien filings
Issue: Practitioners voiced concerns about Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) filings prior to taxpayer contact as well as those filed automatically when taxpayers enter into installment agreements. They feel that filing of the NFTL causes undue hardship for many taxpayers and that subordination and/or discharge of the lien are not viable options since the NFTL remains on the credit report. Practitioners would like taxpayer contact to be a pre-requisite to filing a NFTL.
Response: Taxpayers are provided multiple opportunities to voluntarily resolve their tax liabilities before any decision is made to file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien. Recently the IRS has taken a number of steps to enhance procedures around lien filing and lien withdrawals. We would like to refer you to our recently published page on IRS.gov that provides additional information on new lien withdrawal information – search “Fresh Start.” You may also access the Interim Guidance Memorandums that include current procedures on lien withdrawals, etc – search “Interim Guidance by IRS Business Process” on IRS.gov.
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. View reports for issues closed in prior years on the same page.
We invite you to raise your issues/concerns with your local stakeholder liaison.
