Every decade or so, the members of Congress get together and scare up some votes for themselves by beating up on the IRS. Some of the laws that come out of these cycles are horrible, but some of them are good. One of the best over the years has been the establishment of a national taxpayer advocate. This is a person within the government who will tell Congress and the tax commissioner what's right and what's wrong with the way the IRS enforces the current tax system, and try to get problems avoided or fixed, without the danger of losing his or her job over it.
The current taxpayer advocate, Nina Olson, is great. She tells it like it is, and although the lawmakers and bureaucrats don't always adopt her solutions and strategies, with Olson's periodic reports, they can't act as though they didn't know where the problems are. And her views are uniformly from taxpayers' perspectives, particularly those of the average Janes and Joes who are trying to live their lives without tripping up on the nation's treacherous tax laws.
Now Olson has decided to start a blog. Anybody who's interested in the way the federal government administers the tax laws will want to give it a look every now and then.
Comments (5)
I'd like to know why the IRS forms have been subtly changed making me suspicious that they want me to make large errors this year. The schedule E has changed rents to some sort of third party payments; then it sneaks depreciation up into the dozen or so expense lines.....looking at schedule D and whatever new form I am supposed to fill out has me thinking its a conspiracy from the tax law and professional preparers to force me to abandon preparing my own 7-10 page return. I wonder if Ann ever attempted Willards returns when they were first married and life was so simple for them?
Glad to hear about this. I agree Nina is a great advocate.
Without her office the only way to limit or control IRS administrative over-reach would be through appeals or the court system. WELL after the over-reach, after your client has suffered damage, and at a financial cost above what most taxpayers can invest.
Her complaints against the lack of taxpayer rights and due process in the Services reliance on what she calls "unreal audits' is timely, but as usual, falling on deaf ears in congress.
Thanks for the heads up on the new Schedule D Teresa. I gave it a look/see. I like the layout on the feeder form much better than the continuation pages for the old Schedule D, and I like that the new Schedule D is purely summaries vs. the old combination of summaries and individual transactions. Should be a simple reporting year, because I don't have that many trades and don't believe there were any wash sales.
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Every decade or so, the members of Congress get together and scare up some votes for themselves by beating up on the IRS. Some of the laws that come out of these cycles are horrible, but some of them are good. One of the best over the years has been the establishment of a national taxpayer advocate. This is a person within the government who will tell Congress and the tax commissioner what's right and what's wrong with the way the IRS enforces the current tax system, and try to get problems avoided or fixed, without the danger of losing his or her job over it.
Comments (5)
I'd like to know why the IRS forms have been subtly changed making me suspicious that they want me to make large errors this year. The schedule E has changed rents to some sort of third party payments; then it sneaks depreciation up into the dozen or so expense lines.....looking at schedule D and whatever new form I am supposed to fill out has me thinking its a conspiracy from the tax law and professional preparers to force me to abandon preparing my own 7-10 page return. I wonder if Ann ever attempted Willards returns when they were first married and life was so simple for them?
Posted by teresa | January 31, 2012 11:24 AM
Hurrah for Nina Olson. This takes guts to tackle such a large organization from within.
Posted by dean | January 31, 2012 12:27 PM
It's even in English rather than bureaucratese! Thanks for the bookmark!
Posted by Max | January 31, 2012 1:21 PM
Glad to hear about this. I agree Nina is a great advocate.
Without her office the only way to limit or control IRS administrative over-reach would be through appeals or the court system. WELL after the over-reach, after your client has suffered damage, and at a financial cost above what most taxpayers can invest.
Her complaints against the lack of taxpayer rights and due process in the Services reliance on what she calls "unreal audits' is timely, but as usual, falling on deaf ears in congress.
Posted by wpricetax | January 31, 2012 4:30 PM
Thanks for the heads up on the new Schedule D Teresa. I gave it a look/see. I like the layout on the feeder form much better than the continuation pages for the old Schedule D, and I like that the new Schedule D is purely summaries vs. the old combination of summaries and individual transactions. Should be a simple reporting year, because I don't have that many trades and don't believe there were any wash sales.
Posted by Newleaf | January 31, 2012 6:45 PM