Tennessee Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have joined their Senate colleagues in urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to do “everything it can to support taxpayers during the current tax filing season.”
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig, the senators press the agency to “provide taxpayers with targeted, temporary relief during what is widely believed to be one of the most challenging and frustrating filing seasons in recent memory for both taxpayers and the IRS,” according to a press release by Hagerty’s office.
In the letter, the senators identify challenges their constituents face, and recommend areas where the IRS could use its existing authority to offer meaningful relief to taxpayers, the press release notes.
“… [W]e continue to hear from constituents who have not yet had their paper and amended returns processed, and due to a lack of information on IRS processing dates and timelines, do not know if their returns ever made it to the IRS or if they should re-file,” the senators write in the letter. “Other taxpayers are waiting for their tax refund, some related to their 2019 tax return. This situation is untenable. When our constituents cannot get help from those tasked to administer our tax laws, it diminishes the integrity of our voluntary tax system.”
In the letter, the senators recommend the IRS halt automated collections for a meaningful period of time; provide targeted tax penalty relief for taxpayers; delay the collection process for filers until any active and pending penalty abatement requests have been processed; and communicate the status of IRS operations in a clear and timely manner, among other recommendations.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) endorsed the senators’ recommendations, according to the press release.
“The AICPA is pleased to support members in their calls for the IRS to take specific action to mitigate the anticipated challenges of the current tax filing season,” AICPA Vice President of Taxation, Edward Karl, CPA, CGMA said in a statement. “We wish to highlight the recommendation to modify the complex and confusing implementation of Schedules K-2 and K-3 by delaying until next tax year. AICPA members are already concerned about IRS backlogs and diminished services so delaying the implementation of Schedules K-2 and K-3 will help IRS focus on mitigating the problems at hand.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
