Need Help with Taxes? The IRS Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Is
More than Ready
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
It’s that very unfortunate
time of the year again for most Americans – tax filing
deadline. In households across the nation, not a good word
to be had about the Internal Revenue Service – the demonic
agency that has frustrated the hopes and dreams of wage
earners for decades. And the way the agency is frequently
used as a weapon by scheming politicians doesn’t add to
whatever warm feelings some few, very few, Americans might
harbor.
However, as daunting as
dealing with the IRS might seem, it’s not all bad news. The
IRS can actually be quite helpful, says the newest member of
the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel – an all-volunteer advisory body
whose mission is “to listen to taxpayers, identify issues
that affect taxpayers and make suggestions for improving IRS
service and customer satisfaction,” according to recruitment
information from the IRS.
Andrea Price, former
president and CEO of the Toledo region Mercy Health, is the
latest volunteer with the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. She
noticed the IRS reaching out for volunteers several months
ago and realized that it would be an opportunity for her to
help participate in the TAP’s vision of “citizen volunteers
valued for improving IRS services.”
“In trying to comply with
an increasingly complex tax system, taxpayers may find they
need different services than the IRS is currently
providing,” said Nina E. Olson, the National Taxpayer
Advocate. “The TAP is vital because it provides the IRS with
the taxpayers’ perspective as well as recommendations for
improvement. This helps the IRS deliver the best possible
service to assist taxpayers in meeting their tax
obligations.”
Olson, as National
Taxpayer Advocate, is an IRS executive reporting directly to
the IRS Commissioner. The TAP reports annually to Olson, to
the IRS Commissioner and to the Secretary of the Treasury.
The TAP was established
under President Clinton as a panel to direct citizen input
to the IRS in order to help that agency improve its programs
and procedures.
“They really do listen to
us,” says Price. “The IRS sees the value of us as
volunteers.”
The structure of the TAP
consists of a cross section of the taxpaying public with,
ideally, at least one member from each state, the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico, in addition to one member
representing international taxpayers – those U.S. citizens
working, living or doing business abroad or in a U.S.
territory.
The TAP divides its
volunteers into six committees: Notices and Correspondences;
Tax forms and Publications; Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC)
improvement; Taxpayer Communications; Toll-free phone line;
Special Projects. Price has been named to the Taxpayer
Assistance Center committee.
The Taxpayer Assistance
Center, a very little-known department of the IRS, has a
string of offices around the nation to assist taxpayers with
account inquiries, alien clearances, payment arrangements,
tax forms, among other issues. There are two such offices in
Ohio – one in Cincinnati and one in Cleveland. Price will be
tasked with ensuring that the Assistance Center is providing
sufficient assistance and to make recommendations for
improving that assistance.
Once a year, Nina Olson
and her staff prepare a “Purple Book” to release information
to Congress – the color purple (a combination of red and
blue) emphasizing the non-partisan nature of the taxpayer
advocates’ office. “They have made it clear to us that we
are non-partisan,” says Price. And not merely non-partisan
but advocates for all taxpayers, no matter their political
leanings. “The message from the Tax Advocate office is
‘don’t ever give up in the fight for taxpayers’ best
interest,’” she adds.
Price is no stranger to
working in the best interest of others. In nearly three
decades as a health care executive, a key focus of her
activities was improving service to a client base and to the
community in general, especially during her time as chief
executive with Mercy Health. Now she has a message for the
community about how to improve financial health and how to
access help from an agency not often perceived to be user
friendly.
Price’s self-defined task
now is to get the word about those services. She will be
reaching out to various community groups, tax preparing
firms, agencies, social clubs, businesses and organizations.
She wants “to get out and get suggestions and input” from
those in the community and neighborhoods about what problems
the IRS presents to the taxpayers and how the agency can
improve its service.
Interested parties can
reach Price at the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel’s telephone at
1-888-912-1227, her phone at 419-517-9294, through its
website at
www.improveirs.gov and by email at
tapohioandreaprice@gmail.com. |