In her 2022 Annual Report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins, names the top problems and possible administrative and legislative changes to address those problems most affecting taxpayers, which in turn affect taxpayer representatives and tax practitioners. Not surprisingly, the list includes refund backlogs, the complexity of the Tax Code, and lack of staffing and training at the IRS.
Despite these problems, however, Ms. Collins says things are improving at the IRS for three reasons: the IRS has significantly reduced its backlog of unprocessed tax returns; Congress has given the IRS significant additional funding to increase its customer service staffing; and the IRS has recently hired 4,000 new customer service representatives and hopes to hire an additional 600 people to provide in-person help at its Taxpayer Assistant Centers.
To read the complete report, click here.