taxdebtadvisors.com – What is a Collection Due Process Appeal?
The Collection Due Process Appeal is to provide you with a fair and impartial review of your IRS matter. If you are unable to reach an acceptable agreement with a revenue officer on your tax debt, a Collection Due Process Appeal should be considered in every case.
Here is a summary of the benefits of a Collection Due Process Appeal:
1) An IRS Appeals Officer has more leeway and is easier to have a meeting of the minds with than a Collections representative.
2) Appeals Officers are trained to get the dispute settled. Collection representatives are basically bill collectors.
3) Working with an Appeals Officer face to face gets better results than talking with someone on the phone from the Automated Collection System (ACS). Frankly many ACS personnel are abused on the phone by angry taxpayers and if you call in after one has had a bad experience with someone on the phone they will take it out on you. Most taxpayers act cordially in front of an Appeals Officer and they are inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt in most cases.
4) You never know what someone at ACS will do. They are not accountable since you will talk with a different person every time you call. You are assigned to one person generally at the Appeals Office and they are much more accountable and reasonable.
5) The Appeals Office knows that if they do not come to an agreement with you, that your next option is to take the matter to Tax Court. The IRS wants to avoid at all costs clogging up the Tax Court by being unreasonable. Personnel at ACS have a take it or leave it attitude and often they decide to take it.
6) You can file a Collection Due Process Appeal after you have received an IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy. Your request should be filed within 30 days of the Final Notice. If you file the Collection Due Process Appeal after 30 days, the IRS will still allow you to file an appeal, up to one year, but you lose the option of taking your case to Tax Court.
Scott Allen E. A.