Tax Justice Warriors

The Taxpayer Advocate Service provides help for taxpayers on the individual level and through systemic advocacy.  On the individual level, I look at the collection statute expiration date (CSED), hardship refund offset bypass, and identity theft.  For systemic advocacy, there is the SAMS system, Taxpayer Assistance Orders, reports to Congress, and more.  I also talk about Freedom of Information Act requests as a tool for systemic advocacy.

Continuing the focus on basics from the Tax Procedure course at Washburn University School of Law.

Tax research is a key component in understanding how to help a client.  I scratch the surface in discussing tax research - primary vs. secondary sources, online vs. print and a mention of certain websites I frequently use.

As I teach Tax Procedure at Washburn University School of Law as an adjunct professor, I am going to discuss each week’s different teaching topic on the podcast.  This may be review for you, but it could be the focus on a new topic for a beginning practitioner.

This week, the focus is on interviewing clients.  New practitioners need to be comfortable in talking with a client to hear their story.  Issue spotting is necessary to find out what the client’s needs are and goal setting will make sure that both the client and practitioner know what results are necessary when working on the case.

There are also different considerations for clients with low income, diverse, and English as a Second Language backgrounds.  Tax protestors and other difficult clients may take special handling.  Finally, when negotiating with the IRS, know that there are both competitive and cooperative styles.

Tune in to find out greater detail on these topics.

As I teach Tax Procedure at Washburn University School of Law as an adjunct professor, I am going to discuss each week’s different teaching topic on the podcast.  This may be review for you, but it could be the focus on a new topic for a beginning practitioner. 

This week, I am looking at IRS transcripts.  The tax transcript, wage and income transcript, and account transcript are all available from the IRS and provide different functions.  Just requesting a transcript from the IRS for a year may not get you the transcript you need.

The American Bar Association started an Adopt a Base program in 2013 that continues to the present.  This is an initiative to get ABA attorneys to volunteer for training at military base Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs.  It assists attorneys looking for pro bono or other volunteer projects and provides support for those people preparing taxes on our military bases.  I provided training at McConnell Air Force Base (southeast Wichita, Kansas) this week.  Tune in to find out more details and learn about volunteering.

I travelled to several locations in Kansas to speak to tax preparers about the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic program.  This was in order to build recognition of the clinic and find volunteers.  I am also talking with law students about tax controversy work.  Hear about these and other times that I spoke to groups in order to let them know about the LITC in Kansas.  Perhaps you can find some tips you can use in your practice for reaching the public.

In this episode, I focus on 2020 in taxes.  I discuss some areas I will be focused on for the coming year, including one announcement.  I am not going to try and predict broad tax changes in the coming year, but I do have one person I suggest to watch in 2020.  Have a Happy New Year!

A look back at 2019 for broad tax issues and a recap of the Tax Justice Warriors podcast.  I did more interviews in 2019 than 2018 so I review that group.  I also look at the top tax news items for the year and what my focus was during the year.  My next episode will look at what I will focus on for 2020.

A follow-up to the LITC Grantee Conference held December 2019 in Washington, D.C.  I give background to panels I was on or attended, plus some tips for attending the conference.  The show goes a bit longer so I guess I had something to say on the conference.

Here are some tips that didn’t get on the episode:  I go to a nearby pharmacy and buy breakfast for the rest of the week so I don’t have to try and grab breakfast at a restaurant every morning.  I had leftover boxes from dinners that I ate at the brown bag lunches.  Also, the Grand Hyatt hotel is above the Metro Center stop for the Metro if you want to ride in from the Reagan Airport.

Each year, the American Bar Association Section of Taxation hosts a Low Income Taxpayer Representation Workshop in Washington, D.C.  Last week, the workshop’s focus was the Collection Due Process Summit Initiative.  We held two panels that looked at CDP history, the Summit Initiative, and how to work with the Taxpayer Advocate Service for systemic change.  Following that, there were breakout sessions focused on the stages of Notices, Appeals, and the Judicial levels.  I helped to plan and organize this year’s workshop, taking part in a panel, a breakout discussion on CDP notices and reporting back to the group.  I provide input from the CDP Notices breakout session and discuss the workshop.  It was a successful gathering of practitioners for fruitful education and discussion of CDP issues.