NEW IMRS ISSUES
E-Services
IMRS 08-0000905 – Recorded Message
Issue: Practitioner advises that, when calling the IRS, the recorded message is too long and cannot be bypassed.
IMRS 08-0000901 – Request to file extensions online
Issue: Practitioner requests the ability to file federal income tax return extensions directly on IRS.gov rather than through software companies.
Policy & Procedure
IMRS 08-0000907 – Appeal Rights
Issue: Practitioners would like to have appeal rights offered when they disagree with determinations for Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding.
IMRS 08-0000906 – Collection Transportation Standards
Issue: Practitioners would like to see transparency as it pertains to Collection Transportation Standards. They feel the IRS has failed to provide a clear statement of their assumption of the number of commuting miles driven by each taxpayer in setting the operating expense allowances.
IMRS 08-0000900 – Processing Delays in Bankruptcy Determinations
Issue: Practitioner advises that prompt determination requests on bankruptcies are taking longer than 60 days.
IMRS 08-0000898 – Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Issue: Practitioner would like to know if they are required to file a Suspicious Activity Report (SARs) on the client if money laundering is suspected.
RECENTLY CLOSED ISSUES
Campus
IMRS 08-0000867 – Address to File Prior Year Returns
Issue: Practitioners would like to know which address to use when sending prior year tax returns.
Response: The taxpayer or practitioner should file at current Campus address, whether or not it is a prior tax return. We will look at adding clarifying language to the “General Information” part of the 1040 instructions under past due returns.
IMRS 08-0000724 – Overnight Delivery Service
Issue: Practitioner suggests that we publicize the instructions for using delivery services rather than the U.S. mail.
Response: Information regarding private delivery services is publicized in tax form instructions. However, because private delivery services deliver to street addresses, not P.O. boxes, the use of those services is not widely advertised on IRS.gov. You must use the U.S. Postal Service to mail any item to an IRS P.O. box address.
IMRS 07-0000666 – Practitioner Priority Services (PPS)
Issue: Practitioner advises that when calling PPS and requesting a transfer to the AUR unit, the PPS employee indicates the practitioner must call the AUR unit directly and does not transfer the call.
Response: We will begin offering this through PPS in July 2008. To utilize this service, practitioners should call the PPS line ((866) 860-4259) and inform the PPS assistor that they are calling in reference to an AUR issue. AUR calls to PPS will be transferred to the servicing AUR site and be given priority placement in the AUR toll-free queue.
E-Services
IMRS 08-0000842 & 797– eHelp Desk Music
Issue: Practitioners complain that the eHelp desk music needs to be changed and messages shortened during the filing season to save practitioners time.
Response: The request to change the musical selection is being worked and should be completed before January 2009. A very brief message will be played if an emergency message is required during the filing season.
Policy & Procedure
IMRS 08-0000892 – Charitable Deductions on Form 1120
Issue: Practitioner states that there may be a systemic error in the computation of the Charitable Contributions Deduction with the Domestic Production Activities Deduction.
Response: We have determined that there is a programming error on Form 1120 for the computation of the Charitable Contributions Deduction with the Domestic Production Activities Deduction. The programming was not corrected due to the fact that the Domestic Production Activities Deduction was going to end, and there is still a chance it will not be allowed next year. We have issued a quality alert to our employees and will implement additional managerial review to increase our accuracy.
IMRS 08-0000845 – Auction Flyer
Issue: Practitioner is questioning the authenticity of an auction flyer he received in an envelope with no postage.
Response: The flyer that we used to generate additional interest in this sale is legitimate. In addition to the required Form 2434 Public Auction Sale, we frequently use the auction flyer to provide more information about the assets and to increase bidder participation in our auctions. The flyer clearly states that it is a Public Auction Sale being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service and contains employee’s contact information.
IMRS 08-0000832 – Powers of Attorney (POA)
Issue: Stakeholder advises he had a POA reject because the dated signature of representative was prior to dated signature of the taxpayer.
Response: The sequencing of the signature dates is considered grounds for returning an authorization to the practitioner.
IMRS 07-0000382 – Qualifying Dividends
Issue: Practitioner advises that when CP2000s include unreported qualifying dividends, tax is calculated as ordinary income. When CP2000s include capital gain distributions, IRS program ignores carry forward losses.
Response: The IRS corresponds with the taxpayer via CP2000 to confirm the accuracy of the transaction. In the case of unreported dividends, the taxpayer must determine the portion of dividends qualified for the lower tax rate. The CP2000 asks the taxpayer to let us know what portion of the dividend, if any, qualifies. With respect to capital gain distributions, although a return may reflect a capital loss carryover, the taxpayer must acknowledge that the capital loss carryover has been/will be adjusted to reflect the reduction due to the unreported capital gain. We will consider revising our standard explanation to further clarify the issue.
IN PROCESS ISSUES*
Campus
IMRS 08-0000851 – Letter 525, General 30 Day Letter
Issue: Practitioner’s client received a Letter 525 as a first notice and feels that the wording is written too strongly.
Status: Coordinating with SB/SE Campus.
Communications & Outreach
IMRS 08-0000861 – Filing Information Regarding Deceased Taxpayers
Issue: Practitioner requests information be added to IRS.gov to address issues regarding deceased taxpayers. Suggestions include forms to file and duties of a personal representative.
Status: A response was shared with the practitioner. The issue will be closed when receipt is confirmed.
E-Services
IMRS 08-0000884 – EFTPS
Issue: Small business owner would like enhancements to EFTPS that include populating fields with information from previous pages or forms and allowing modifications to user profiles online rather than having to call the IRS.
Status: A response from W&I was shared with the practitioner. The issue will be closed when receipt is confirmed.
Forms, Publications & Products
IMRS 08-0000891 – Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement
Issue: Governmental liaison advises that Forms 1098 retrieved through Transcript Delivery Service show the bank/lender as the payer and the borrower as the payee. These fields are currently reversed.
Status: A copy of the transcript has been requested from the governmental liaison.
IMRS 08-0000859 – Form 9452, Filing Assistance Program
Issue: Stakeholder suggests modifying Form 9452 to add a check box for taxpayers without a filing requirement to have their SSN blocked from use by anyone else.
Status: Coordinating with the Office of Privacy.\
Policy & Procedures
IMRS 08-0000877 – Filing Electronically
Issue: Practitioner would like to know why returns submitted with payment and mailed by midnight are considered timely but an electronic return with payment submitted at midnight is considered untimely.
Status: Coordinating with W&I.
*This is a sample, not a complete list, of “In Process” issues currently being worked.
NOTE: Current and previous reports can be accessed from the Tax Professionals page on IRS.gov. (The Monthly Overviews are posted for the periods May 2006 through the current month. You can also access the 2007 Closed Issues Sorted by Subject report on the same page.) We invite you to raise your issues/concerns with your local liaison representative. A listing of Stakeholder Liaison (SL) Local Contacts can be found at IRS.gov, keywords “Stakeholder Liaison (SL) Local Contacts,” or follow the link on the IMRS page. This list is also available for downloading.
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