Tax Justice Warriors

Welcome to a further discussion from William Schmidt (Legal Aid of Western Missouri) and Andrew Belter (Wisconsin JudiCare) on issues when calling the Practitioner Priority Service.  This time, there are issues when representing a client who is listed as the secondary person on the tax return.  Some of are clients are widows or divorced.  Recently, the IRS has been given difficulty or wanted a power of attorney form for the decedent's estate signed by the widowed spouse in order to do anything on the account.  That makes it difficult to ask for transcripts or get the account into currently not collectible status.  Next, there are difficulties when transcripts are unavailable from the IRS but the representative does have access to the account.  How to proceed?  Also, when the clinic is contacted about criminal tax issues, what next?  Since the LITC program does not focus on criminal tax, it is good to have a network for referring those cases.  These topics and more are discussed in this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!

Andrew Belter and William Schmidt talked through the different instances when to sign for clients on submissions to the IRS or the Tax Court.  Some forms allow for either a taxpayer or their attorney to sign.  However, clients don’t always get the forms to us or keep in contact close to the deadlines.  What are some of the ethical considerations with those issues?

Next, they compare notes on the LITC grant report.  By now, clinics should have submitted their reports so our hosts talk about their efforts to put their reports together.  Spreadsheets or other ways of tracking data like case software are quite useful!

Andrew Belter and William Schmidt discuss some recent topics of concern for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics.  For one, Andrew brings up the difficulties with regard to reaching the IRS on the phones to get help for clients.  Both Andrew and William talk about their recent attempts to find assistance for clients by calling the IRS.  Then, William brings up the LITC grant report.  That leads to a discussion of the difficulties in tracking data for the grant report and some tips in order to gather that data in an easier manner.

This week, Andrew Belter and William Schmidt look at some U.S. Tax Court topics.

First, the case Boechler v. Commissioner is before the U.S. Supreme Court where they have heard oral arguments.  In brief, an individual was a day late and missed the statutory deadline for a Collection Due Process hearing.  The Tax Court ruled that there was a strict jurisdictional deadline.  At issue before the Supreme Court is whether that deadline is jurisdictional or if equitable tolling can provide any relief.

Second, there was a discussion on the ABA Section of Taxation's Pro Bono and Tax Clinics Committee listserv regarding Answers from IRS Chief Counsel in Tax Court.  For years 1983-2007, the Tax Court did not require answers in S cases.  We discuss the pros and cons of Answers, plus suggestions for what could replace them.

Note:  the phrase we couldn't remember was financial disability.  William covered that topic way back in episode 55.  To learn more, you can also look at Internal Revenue Code section 6511(h), Rev. Proc. 99-21 or IRS Publication 556, page 15.

ID.me is a recent platform that the IRS was using as an online identity verification process for taxpayers to access self-help tools.  To verify their identity with ID.me, taxpayers needed to provide a photo of an identity document such as a driver's license, state ID or passport. They also needed to take a selfie with a smartphone or a computer with a webcam. Once their identity had been verified, the were able to access IRS online services.

Various people protested to Congress and that reached the IRS.  On February 7, 2022, the IRS announced it would transition away from using ID.me and its facial recognition tools to help authenticate people creating new online accounts. The transition was to occur over the following weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season.

During the transition, the IRS stated they would quickly develop and bring online an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition. The IRS stated they would “continue to work with its cross-government partners to develop authentication methods that protect taxpayer data and ensure broad access to online tools.”

On this episode, Andrew Belter and William Schmidt spoke with John Gilmore, Head of Research at Abine/DeleteMe.  The conversation started with how ID.me came to be used by the federal government and John’s concerns regarding ID.me, such as whether they are regulated and what they do with their data.  We discussed the IRS pivot away from facial recognition and that other state and federal government agencies are still using ID.me.  From there, we look at how this impacts low income taxpayers such as the complaints for people of color using facial recognition and how low income taxpayers do not have access to technology.

Well, before we started we didn’t think we had anything to talk about!  Andrew Belter (Wisconsin Judicare) and William Schmidt (Legal Aid of Western Missouri) caught up on recent tax news as the tax season is underway.  Access to transcripts with the CAF Unit and IRS budget restrictions from Congress are some of the topics.

The main portion of this episode is a discussion of the ABA 2022 Midyear Tax Meeting.  It was a virtual conference that took place from January 31 to February 4.  Hopefully we provided some insights in our preview of the event.  There are discussions that took place on topics such as diversity and ethics.  Updates on current events from the National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, the IRS and the U.S. Tax Court.  Discussions of litigation that ranged from the U.S. Tax Court to the U.S. Supreme Court.  There are a variety of topics that should interest tax practitioners at American Bar Association Section of Taxation events.

Since the event has already happened, you have not necessarily missed out.  For American Bar Association members, the recordings are still available for 90 days after the meeting.  It is a bargain for LITC personnel to access the entire conference for $25.

The meeting was quite informative and it is always wonderful to see and speak with other tax professionals, even when it is all online.

Welcome to the tax filing season!  Andrew Belter and William Schmidt start with a discussion of reconciling the child tax credit with Letter 6419.  From there, we turn to differences between state and federal taxes.  For one, can you still find paper copies of your state tax forms at your local public library?  Who is faster at processing paper tax returns, the IRS or the state?  Does your state perform audits independently of the IRS?  Does the state follow IRS decisions regarding innocent spouse?  Is there a taxpayer advocate in your state?  What does that person do? 

Andrew and William talk through these questions based on their state tax experience.

Happy New Year 2022!  Andrew Belter and William Schmidt discuss what the year will hold regarding taxes.  The individual tax season will begin on January 24 and is expected to last through April 18 this year.

We discuss our outlook on the upcoming tax season and other items for the year.  This tax filing season, a difference will be reconciliation of the recovery rebate credit for the 3^rd stimulus payment and reconciling the advance child tax credit.  One suggestion I have heard is to make an appointment with your local Taxpayer Assistance Center if the amounts received by the taxpayer and the notice letter from the IRS do not match up.

Beyond that, what are our personal goals for our clinics and related items on our jobs?  We discuss deadlines, outreach, interviews for the podcast, and keeping a work balance without adding too much the workload.

Andrew Belter and William Schmidt do an end of year discussion.  They talk about the LITC conference and how the year has been working with the IRS.  Along with that, they discuss how the year went – moving from one LITC to another for each of them and some self-reflection on how outreach progressed during the year.

On this episode, Andrew Belter and William Schmidt discuss issues that the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is having in 2021.  Due to the IRS being backed up, taxpayers are contacting TAS for assistance.  While TAS normally provides assistance to taxpayers, the IRS and TAS are being contacted by taxpayers in record numbers.  As a result, TAS is difficult to reach and that means limited assistance for Low Income Taxpayer Assistance (LITCs).

Note:  It was not mentioned in the episode, but we heard from the National Taxpayer Advocate at a later point on guidance for LITCs.  If there are issues in contacting TAS, the LITCs need to reach out to their Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA).  The LITCs need to build close working relationships with their LTAs during these difficult times.  Contact your LTA especially if a form 911 has been submitted and you have not heard anything – send it directly to the LTA if you are able!

Also, Andrew and William talk through some networking tips and help if you are dealing with stress during the holidays.