Is the IRS kinder and gentler?
Is the IRS kind?
In the last 44 years, we have seen little change in the attitude or position of the IRS towards collection of taxes owed. The IRS is just an extension of our federal government. It is a huge bureaucracy and the culture within the IRS is very slow to change.
What changes is the areas of emphasis in their work. They will try different systems and strategies but they always come back to what has worked in the past. For example, the IRS has been contracting with outside private debt collection agencies. If you have absolute power to take someone’s property and wages, why would you even think that another collector without those powers could do better? It was doomed to fail from the start.
The IRS will replace the private debt collection agencies by hiring over 2000 new collection officers in 2022. These new bill collectors hired by the IRS have the power to file liens, levy wages and seize property. Most will have the ability to do extensive investigations and they will likely make their first contact with you at your home or business.
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said, “I believe this work is best done by IRS employees, and I believe we have strong support from the Administration and the Congress for increased IRS enforcement resources going forward.” Some clients interpret “kindler and gentler,” to mean the IRS will make it easier to pay or let you pay less than your fair share. Kindler and gentler was just mask. It is the same tiger behind the mask and as I have said many times, “when your head is in the mouth of a tiger, say nice tiger.”
We do not know how the IRS will place these new collections officers. Will they go towards local enforcement by hiring more Revenue Officers or towards centralized collections by hiring more personnel at the Automated Collection Service? Now that we are more than half way through 2022, we still do not see any significant change because of the number of new personnel hired by the IRS. That is understandable since it takes about two years before they are turned loose on taxpayers. Right now most are acting in supportive roles.
Scott Allen E. A. Tax Debt Advisors, Inc stopIRSaction.com