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Posted by eagent on June 9, 2008, 2:16 pm
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On Jun 9, 12:44 pm, ca...@my-deja.com wrote:
> Hello there,
>
> Okay, so I'm fairly new to the practice of representing people that
> are behind on their federal taxes and have some questions about
> dealing with the IRS. I'm not one to jump on the whole "the IRS is
> evil" bandwagon - more like the "IRS is inconsistent and can't get its
> story straight". I just am at the end of my rope with the robots that
> answer the practitioner's hotline (hotline - yeah right!). Yes, I
> know I have to get used to this sort of thing otherwise I'll never
> make it as a practitioner.
>
> Long story short, I have a client who apparently didn't pay all their
> federal taxes in 1993 and 1994. They claim that their employer
> withheld more than enough taxes but didn't pay them over to the IRS
> like they were supposed (the company went under long ago and closed
> down). They claim their employer was having cash flow problems and
> not turning over the withholdings to the IRS like they should have.
> Whether or not that is true, I don't know. How I'm going to obtain
> the old employer's payroll records is another matter.
>
> My real question is, I've called the IRS three times and I've gotten
> three different answers as to what is going on with the client's
> account. When I call the practitioner's hotline and sit through the
> painful music from the "Nutcrack Suite" they play while on hold, and
> finally get to a human voice, I have been told the following: 1)my
> client's account is "in queue" and waiting to be assigned to a Revenue
> Officer, 2)my client's account has been assigned Currently Not
> Collectible (CNC) status since July of 2005 and 3)my client's account
> will be CNC'd next month. I'm also told my client's account has been
> put in CNC status before and taken out of it, then put back in.
>
> How do I confirm exactly what is true and how do I get this in
> writing?
>
> Would it make any sense to go to a physical IRS office instead of
> dealing with the IRS on the phone?
>
> Should I call a different number other than the IRS practitioner's
> hotline (calling the 800-TAX-1040 is even more useless)?
>
> Should I contact the IRS Office of Taxpayer Advocate and fill out
> their standard form?
>
> ========================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
> Please tell us which category of Circ 230 preparer you are?
> And tell us where you are getting your Rep procedures? And what did you do
> with your POA?
> And are you signed up for EServices? (If not, it's free and no longer
> subject to a minimum anything.) Sorry for all the questions but we do
> want to help you and this info would help us help you.
I'll echo our moderator's comments/inquiries -
First, are you a licensed representative? A CPA or EA perhaps?
Second, IF you are a licensed rep you should sign up for E-Services.
This would allow you to go directly to the IRS computer system and
download transcripts and account details with all the information
you're looking for. This is an invaluable service and if you're going
to be a professional representative you NEED to have access to this
system if you're going to be efficient.
Beyond that, this is why I NEVER, EVER call the IRS - I WRITE. This
forces them to respond in writing and written responses can be relied
on.
You also need to learn how the Taxpayer Advocate works. If you've
been waiting for more than 45 days to get a good answer from the IRS
on a subject you can escalate the issue to the Office of the Taxpayer
Advocate. You can get their address from the IRS.GOV web site. Write
to them, explain the situation, give them sufficient details so they
can research the issue and they will respond to you.
Good luck,
Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA
--
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