(This post requested by JC.)
By law, the National Taxpayer Advocate must submit two reports to Congress each year.
National Taxpayer Advocate’s Objectives Report
The first report (Objectives Report), delivered each June, contains the goals and activities planned by the Taxpayer Advocate for the coming year.
National Taxpayer Advocate’s Reports to Congress
The second report (Annual Report), delivered at the end of December, includes: A summary of the 20 most serious problems encountered by taxpayers; recommendations for solving those problems; and other IRS efforts to improve customer service and reduce taxpayer burden.
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Volume I: FY 2016 Objectives Report to Congress
- PREFACE: National Taxpayer Advocate’s Introductory Remarks
- REVIEW OF THE 2015 FILING SEASON
- AREAS OF FOCUS
- The IRS Should Provide Victims of Identity Theft with a True Single Point of Contact to Help Them Resolve Their Account Problems and Obtain Their Refunds
- The IRS Agrees It Should Issue Refunds to Victims of Return Preparer Fraud, But It Has Been Slow to Develop Necessary Procedures
- The IRS’s Administration of the Affordable Care Act Has Gone Well Overall, But Some Glitches Have Arisen
- The IRS’s Implementation of FATCA Has in Some Cases Imposed Unnecessary Burdens and Failed to Protect the Rights of Affected Taxpayers
- IRS Procedures for Levies on Retirement Plan Assets Create Financial Harm and Undermine Taxpayer Rights
- As the IRS Migrates to More Self-Service Tools and Online Services, Low Income and Other Vulnerable Taxpayer Populations May Face Greater Compliance Challenges
- Additional Requirements for Appeals Access and Compressed Case Timelines Impair the Fundamental Rights of Taxpayers
- The IRS Approves Many Applications for Tax-Exempt Status Almost Automatically, Often Based on Insufficient Information
- International Local Taxpayer Advocates Would Provide Valuable Assistance to Taxpayers and Protect Their Rights
- TAS Continues to Work with the IRS to Implement the Taxpayer Bill of Rights into IRS Operations
- The IRS Must Have a Comprehensive Review Process for Guidance and Other Documents to Protect Taxpayer Rights, Improve Customer Service, and Operate More Efficiently
- EFFORTS TO IMPROVE TAS ADVOCACY AND SERVICE TO TAXPAYERS
- TAS RESEARCH INITIATIVES
- TAS TECHNOLOGY
- APPENDICES
Just read the IRS NTA report (at least the international part) and am sooooo disappointed. As I like to tell my in-laws, if I knew what I know today, do you really think I would have been such a dumb-ass idiot as to marry a US citizen?
I haven’t gotten into the technical aspects of her report yet , but so far this stands out to me re FATCA:
“These burdens include additional tax preparation fees and the unwillingness of some foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to do business with U.S. expatriates because of significant costs and regulatory risks associated with preparing and maintaining a business for ongoing FATCA compliance.”
Sounds like Nina Olson would be a great witness for the Bopp FATCA lawsuit, where the US government has stated that the banking problems Americans abroad are experiencing are “self-inflicted” and a result of a third party (bank’s) action – not the US’s.
@Calgary411 Thanks for this.
@Bubblebustin. I like your thinking.
I am a bit disappointed that the TBOR was not expanded on to cover Taxpayer Bill of Rights gaps in rights Perhaps this was not done as they just got Congress to recognise TBOR. Or, while the US and TPA are leading the world with a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, perhaps the 10 rights suffer a bit as the TPA works too closely with the IRS and may have objectivity impacted by this.
I find the TBOR Tax Payer RIght — #10 Right to a Fair and Just Tax System — disingenuous and misleading as while one may think this is in regards to fair and just taxes, the TPA interpretation is fair and just administration of the tax system, and with assumption that the tax system is fair and just. To remedy the interpretation must be broadened to encompass both fair and just tax system and fair and just administration of the tax system, perhaps in two separate bill of rights items.
Also needed:
11) Right to simple and easily understood tax regime
12) Right to reasonable compliance costs. And that cost of compliance must be considered with objective to minimise compliance costs. An incentive for Congress/IRS could be that “excessive” compliance costs above taxes owed would result in a tax credit, again above a certain amount would need to be refunded by the IRS.
The TPA request for FATCA reporting exemption for bona fide residents of another country sounds like the proposal from Democrats Abroad. If the rules may leap this far then there could also be consideration for same country exemption for FBAR reporting as in personal and company accounts, FBAR penalties, exemptions for pension funds, Obamacare investment tax, etc.
I hope it gets noticed and adopted and then we might encourage changes from there.
The IRS is much like the rest of the U.S. government, only amplified by the fact they hold sway over every citizen, non-citizen with a green card and every accidental citizen. The only solution to this Marxist department is to disband them and have a treasury which works with every state government collecting the Sales Tax, known as the FairTax, which is what the founders envisioned. No tax on income was mandated by the founders. The Marxists moved in in 1913 and got the constitution amended with the lie that only the rich would ever pay taxes.
How is that working for you? for me it sucks. I want to go back to the way the founders wanted it.
Here is a nice product of @Calgry411 fine page work here with picture, and @Bubblebustin fine comment relating to Bopp suit.
https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/684935951315894272
Great, JC! Funny, I had just sent Solomon an email to that effect! Thanks for sending the tweet.
You said it Wilton.
From your lips to God’s Ear!
This is what stands out for me in this report. It’s on p. 10 of Vol. II.
“The requirement to file a tax return and pay taxes is generally the most significant burden a government imposes on its citizens.”
How is it that in a so-called “just” society this “most significant burden” is placed upon the backs of those whose contribution to the expenses of that society is the very least, or, indeed, nil. These same “low” to “no-cost” citizens are also those with the least (can you spell “N-O-N-E?) representation in Congress.
If the US government wants to know why we are all so angry, this one sentence in this report says it all.
We are at the beginning of an election cycle where we select a new Chief Executive. It is an exercise in futility for those of us who desperately want FairTaxation for everyone. Only one candidate has mentioned the FairTax and the new Speaker of the House, who came from the tax writing committee,(Ways and Means) pretends to be a man of the people, good Catholic,family man and all around honest, won’t do what even he knows is essential to save the Union. He had a chance to be as important as Lincoln, when he saved the Union, but campaign contributions and their distribution to favored house members was a stronger pull than being what he has pretended to be.
The IRS is a rogue department created by rogue congressmen, so as to destroy the anonymousness
of each citizen. Marxists always want control from a central government and taxation of income is a must when Marxist’s set out to destroy the middle class.
It is almost done with Mr Obama’s policy of redistribution of all the accumulated wealth of a vibrant middle class. When he is done and those who vote for a living elect the next Marxist to the job, we’ll be another Argentina and the ”last best hope for mankind will perish from this earth”.
Mike Huckabee mentioned the Fairtax in the first debate and the news media who are mouth organs for the government, stopped covering his campaign, on orders from the ”good ole boys” of both parties, who are in league with each other on the subject of the Marxist Income Tax. They all love it because they are the beneficiary’s of the spoils and the IRS stands by laughing at us all who have caught on to their survival scheme. The IRS does the bidding of the party in power and they don’t give a rip which one it is, they are in control, Soviet Style.
The U.S. and the small African country of Eritrea are the only countries who have proclaimed ownership of their citizens and whatever is the property of the owned is property of the owners. To use a phrase I hear the youngster use–THIS SUCKS. We, in the FairTax movement are a small vocal group who will have the power of the NRA, one day and those who ignored us and our pleas will beg us to include them in our government, but we won’t. There is only one power a congressman wants and that is re election.
That is how we will pick them off, one at a time, using the FairTax candidates and throwing the current politicians onto the ash heap of history.
The National Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report to Congress is one of the most ignored documents produced by any agency of the US government. I think I’ll ignore it as well because when Congress ignores it, whatever it contains is effectively reduced to just more useless bureaucratic gobbledegook. Total waste of time.
Why they continue to pay the Taxpayer Advocate to produce reports that are immediately ignored and not responded to in any meaningful way is a mystery to me. It might as well be printed on some of NativeCanadian’s toilet paper and hung in the Congressional restrooms for all the good it does. They could do away with her position tomorrow and no one would even notice.
So I have learned from Congress’ example and I ignore the report, ignore Congress, ignore the IRS, ignore the US government, and ignore the US Dept. of State. No good can come from paying any attention to them at all.
The only thing I don’t ignore is sending donations to ADCS. That is the only chance we have to do something useful about this ridiculous situation.
There, I just sent off another donation. Now I feel better!
maz57,
Thanks for your great comment, including
and, especially, thaks for your continued support for the ADCS litigation, *the only chance we have to do something useful about this ridiculous situation*.
page 354:
EXAMPLE
http://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/Media/Default/Documents/2015ARC/ARC15_Volume1_LR_05_Foreign-Acct-Reporting.pdf
This sounds like it was influenced by Allison Christians presentation at the Taxpayer Rights Conference. Yet the example is very “lite” on the injustices of the situation, and does not address Allison Christian’s question of what policy goal such treatment achieves? The example is mostly factual. The person has mutual funds for retirement savings – but no pointing out of punitive PFIC rules designed for US resident persons to discourage investments overseas. “became anxious” substituted for – my words – ‘suffered from state sponsored US financial terrorism.’
I am just wondering how much worse the relationship between the homelanders and the diaspora can get. Are we at the angry phase? The despising phase? I sometimes wonder if this will go all the way to the rebel freedom fighter phase.
@Salamander, once you hit the despising phase you say “I am done” and since you are already an outlander you no longer need to deal with the homelander. Its like a family fall out.
http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/public-policy-cases-accepted-by-the-taxpayer-advocate-service/
More about the Taxpayer Advocate for those who aren’t familiar with her office.
http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/about/who-we-are
Those outside the US can call a US office of the TAS if the only ‘offshore’ contact # listed doesn’t work.
Be sure to get a direct # to call back if the TAS tries to give you a toll free return #. Those tollfree numbers work only inside the US – and most of the TAS and IRS agents don’t know that.
If you have a Skype account, Skype lets you call US toll free numbers toll free.
Though speaking of the Taxpayer Advocate, take another look at this article that was published a few days ago:
http://fortune.com/2016/02/12/irs-identity-theft/?xid=yahoo_fortune
This IRS identity thief was operating in the Taxpayer Advocate office.
I’ve also had the opportunity to learn that even when Taxpayer Advocate employees aren’t identity thieves themselves, they still rely on corrupt IRS records that were altered by the IRS’s identity thieves.
Most recent from Taxpayer Advocate Olson:
NINA E. OLSON
NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE
HEARING ON
THE NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE’S
2015 ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 15, 2016
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-04-15-Nina-Olsen-Testimony.pdf
Several sections devoted specifically to ‘international taxpayers’, mentions of FATCA, FBAR, closing of ALL IRS tax attache offices outside the US, lack of ability to get assistance from IRS from ‘abroad’ , IRS nightmare “Future State Plan” to force everyone to do everything online, data protection issues, withholding of legitimate refunds for more than a year for those filing form 1042-s due to IRS across the board freezing and inability to verify and process……and on and on. If you are still waffling about whether to renounce/relinquish, and can afford to do so, this glimpse of where it all is going even for those ‘compliant’ ‘international’ taxable persons ‘abroad’ (as well as those inside the US) should be a warning about where this is rapidly going all to hell even more than we have already identified.
Table of Contents:
WRITTEN STATEMENT OF
NINA E. OLSON
NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE
HEARING ON
THE NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE’S
2015 ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 15, 2016
Page 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
Overview ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
II.
Facilitate Voluntary Compliance by Empowering Taxpayers with Secure Innovative Tools
and Support. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
A.
The IRS Future State Plan Commendably Commits the IRS to Develop Online
Taxpayer Accounts, But the IRS Is Significantly Underestimating Continuing
Taxpayer Demand for Telephone and Face-to-Face Service, and It Must Be
Required to Maintain Those Services to Meet Taxpayer Needs. ……………………. 6
B.
The IRS Continues to Reduce Service at the Taxpayer Assistance Centers. …..12
C.
As the IRS Develops an Online Account System, It Imposes Undue Burden on
Taxpayers Who Require More Personalized Services. ………………………………..15
D.
The Elimination of Key International Taxpayer Service Channels Has Increased
Compliance Challenges for International Taxpayers and Undermined Taxpayer
Rights. …………………………………………………………………………………………………19
III.
Leverage and Collaborate with External Stakeholders. …………………………………………..21
A.
Minimum Standards for Return Preparers Are Essential to Protect Taxpayers
under the IRS’s Future State. …………………………………………………………………..21
B.
The IRS Should Restrict Preparer Access to the Online Account. ………………….23
IV.
Select Highest Value Work Using Data Analytics and Robust Feedback Loops. ………..25
A.
The IRS Is Conferring IRC § 501(c)(3) Status on Organizations that Do Not Meet
the Legal Requirements. …………………………………………………………………………26
B.
The IRS’s Approach to its Non-Resident Taxpayer Refund Process Results in
Extensive Delays and Unwarranted Denials of Legitimate Credits and Refunds.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..29
C.
The IRS Is Taking Important Steps to Prevent Stolen Identity Refund Fraud, But
Needs to Do More to Assist Victims. …………………………………………………………33
V.
The IRS Must Develop and Deploy an IRS Enterprise Case Management System
Generally and the Taxpayer Advocate Service Integrated System (TASIS) in Particular.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..37
A.
ECM in General. ……………………………………………………………………………………38
B.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service Integrated System. ……………………………………39
VI.
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..42
https://www.americansabroad.org/news/aca-will-be-taking-part-in-the-taxpayer-advocate-conference-in-washington-dc/
Good news:
ACA will be taking part in the Taxpayer Advocate Conference in Washington DC http://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/public-forums
Bad news:
ACA says; “….. this will not be a forum to discuss specific tax policy (CBT, RBT, etc). Rather, it’s a platform to discuss filing procedures, outreach, data security, etc.”
Marylouise Serrato, ACA Executive Director will be speaking at the conference, explaining what Americans living abroad need to make the filing process an easier experience.
Released: May 11th, 2016 08:20 AM
Read the Taxpayer Advocate’s latest report https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-04-15-Nina-Olsen-Testimony.pdf (worth reading in entirety) and then ask yourself how likely is it that the IRS will do anything at all useful or logical or fair to help those ‘abroad’, given the direction the agency has chosen to continue to go in (all growth in enforcement and threats – bigger and bigger sticks to beat people with and zero carrot) and the growing ways in which the IRS is abusing taxpayers INSIDE the US.
The IRS characterizes its website, and FATCA as administered by IGA countries as its outreach and taxpayer education to those ‘abroad’ right? Things can only get worse.
@ badger
Thanks for posting the latest from the taxpayer advocate. I was a bit surprised by the following paragraph because I thought younger ones would pick online over paper filing.
Maybe being more tech-savvy actually makes them more tech-leery.
“withholding of legitimate refunds for more than a year for those filing form 1042-s due to IRS across the board freezing and inability to verify and process”
More than a year? How many fingers does the Taxpayer Advocate have? It’s more than 10 years, [censored*].
The IRS’s embezzlers have probably been targeting Form 1042-S even longer than Form 1099. Ordinary non-resident US citizens never knew about Form 1042-S. US payers would issue them to stockbrokers who had no use for them (since the stockbrokers are intermediaries not beneficiaries of the income and withholding therefrom). Stockbrokers would issue Form T-5 or whatever in other countries to the beneficiaries. If the beneficiareis were US citizens and filed US returns, they’d report the withholding that was shown on Form T-5 or whatever, and they’d never know about the US’s Form 1042-S. So the IRS’s embezzlers wouldn’t even get caught.
When intermediaries started using Form 1099, the IRS’s embezzlers had more work to do. At first they slipped up, but later they figured out how to cover their tracks properly.
Even though Monica Hernandez and several of her colleagues have been arrested by now, the ringleaders haven’t been. They figured out how to arrange things so that no one will help us. Will refunds take more than 10 years [censored*], or will they be never?
[* The word doesn’t need censoring, but I’ll refrain from calling her one because she’s comparatively more honest than most of her colleagues.]
“Maybe being more tech-savvy actually makes them more tech-leery.”
Bingo.
@Embee, I wonder if people overestimate how tech savvy the young really are, and how much access to technology and the internet is still restricted. Owning technology is not the same as knowing how to use it effectively. And the tech divide stills gapes very wide for those who cannot afford it or access it. Consider all the agencies (including many of the Canadian government, seek to herd the populace into accessing services and making transactions online only, despite at one and the same time having cut back or ceased the government grant programs and allocations to libraries which were to have assured some base rate of internet access and computer access for the population. Look at the federal government having cut the “… Community Access Program (CAP or C@P) [which] operates out of libraries and community centres across Canada to provide free or low-cost internet access to the public”….”The CAP program pays for the web connection, rent in community centres, and for coordinators and technical support.”…. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ottawa-cuts-cap-public-web-access-funding-1.1152248 and cuts to other library services across Canada http://www.accessola.org/web/OLA/ADVOCACY/General_Library_Issues/Cuts_to_Libraries/OLA/Issues_Advocacy/issues/Unprecedented_number_of_cuts_to_library_programs_in_Canada.aspx?hkey=850bf28c-4e4f-4f92-b59d-76f4c69ecd3c, and Ontario cutting the funding for important electronic resources offered by public libraries; “As recently announced, provincial funding for a province-wide core suite of e-resources (Tier 1) will no longer be available to Ontario public libraries effective January 1, 2016. All current Tier 1 vendor agreements will end on December 31, 2015. ..”…………..
Thursday, 06 August 2015
http://www.sols.org/index.php/blog/entry/e-resources-planning-for-2016
And the province of Newfoundland; “More than half of N.L. libraries closing in wake of budget cuts”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/newfoundland-labrador-library-closures-1.3555133
How many schools are running out of date equipment? How many students do not have internet access at home and cannot afford equipment? Ex. See Stats Can; ‘Internet use by individuals, by location of access, by province (Canada)’ http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/comm36a-eng.htm The stats are now out of date, but there is no reason to think the situation has improved.
I have witnessed people struggling to try and fill out very personal and sensitive forms in a public setting – because that is what some level of government demands. One hour a day limited access in a public space, allocated to people who are often not tech savvy, or not tech savvy enough. Think about doing FBARs in your public library with all your personal and financial information there on display to whoever sits beside you or passes by.