The Taxpayer Advocate Service: Helping You Resolve Tax Problems
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: August 13, 2012
The
Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within
the IRS that helps taxpayers who are experiencing unresolved federal tax
problems.
Here are 10 things every taxpayer should know about TAS:
- The Taxpayer Advocate Service is your voice at the IRS.
- TAS assistance is free and tailored to meet your needs.
3.
You may be eligible for TAS help if you've tried to resolve your tax
problem through normal IRS channels and have gotten nowhere, or if you
are
facing (or your business is facing) an immediate action from the IRS
that will adversely affect you.
4. The worst thing you can do is nothing at all!
5.
TAS helps individual and business taxpayers whose tax problems are
causing financial difficulty, which could include the cost of hiring
professional
representation, such as a tax attorney.
6.
If you qualify for TAS help, you'll be assigned one advocate who will
do everything possible to get your problem resolved.
7.
There is at least one local Taxpayer Advocate office in every state,
the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. You can obtain the number of
your local Taxpayer Advocate from your local phone book, in Pub. 1546,
Taxpayer Advocate Service - Your Voice at the IRS and on the IRS website at IRS.gov/advocate. You can also call TAS toll-free at 1-877-777-4778.
8. As a taxpayer, you have rights that the IRS must abide by when working with you. Our tax toolkit website at www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov
can help you understand these rights.
9.
TAS also handles tax problems that may have a broad impact on more than
just one taxpayer. You can report these "systemic" issues to TAS
through
the Systemic Advocacy Management System at IRS.gov/advocate.
10. You can get updates on hot tax topics by visiting the TAS YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/TASNTA
and the TAS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YourVoiceAtIRS, or by following TAS tweets at www.twitter.com/YourVoiceatIRS.
