WASHINGTON — In its bid to be more lenient this year, the IRS is giving its employees more flexibility in helping taxpayers in financial straits. Employees will have greater authority to temporarily suspend collection in certain hardship cases, especially when the taxpayer has lost a job or is facing a severe illness or large medical bills.
But some tax experts say leaving such decisions to individual employees can be dangerous.
“The worst thing about the civil tax enforcement is that so much of it depends on who has your file, and I’m still seeing aggressive collection practices against small businesses and individuals,” said Gerald W. Kelly of the Baltimore law firm Thomas & Libowitz.
Benson Goldstein, senior manager of taxation at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said it is unclear how much relief the approach will bring taxpayers.
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said his employees are well-trained to handle their responsibilities.
“They follow a very tight set of procedures,” he said. “That’s people’s job in an organization, to try to exercise their judgment.”
Ultimately, taxpayers will have to be proactive if they want to benefit from the IRS’s promised leniency. Those who are behind on payments should call the phone numbers listed on the correspondence they receive from the agency, Shulman said.
