IRS Ends Unannounced Revenue Officer Visits
As part of a larger transformation effort, the IRS recently announced a major policy change that will end most unannounced visits to taxpayers by agency revenue officers.
The change reverses a decades-long practice by IRS revenue officers, the unarmed agency employees whose duties include visiting households and businesses to help taxpayers resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns. Effective immediately, unannounced visits will end except in a few unique circumstances and will be replaced with mailed letters to schedule meetings. In a press release, the IRS said the change is intended to reduce public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel announced the change as part of a larger effort to transform IRS operations following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year and the creation of the new IRS Strategic Operating Plan in April. Werfel said in the press release that changing the long-standing procedure will increase confidence in the agency’s tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees.
Werfel stated that there have been increased security concerns in recent years on multiple fronts. The growth in scam artists targeting taxpayers has increased confusion about home visits by IRS revenue officers, he said. Sometimes scam artists appear at the door posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for not just the taxpayers living there but also local law enforcement. Werfel noted that unannounced visits to homes and businesses presented risks for IRS revenue officers as well, as they routinely faced hazards and uncertainty making unannounced visits to attempt to resolve delinquent tax matters.
In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will instead make contact with taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a follow-up meeting. Taxpayers whose cases are assigned to a revenue officer will now be able to schedule face-to-face meetings at a set place and time, with the necessary information and documents in hand to reach resolution of their cases more quickly and eliminate the burden of multiple future meetings.
The IRS noted there will still be extremely limited situations where unannounced visits will occur. These rare instances include service of summonses and subpoenas and sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government.
The IRS will be updating IRS.gov and internal guidance in the months ahead.