Tax Blog

The National Taxpayer Advocate recently released her 2023 Annual Report to Congress and, while it is chock-full of newsworthy and important data, this blog entry focuses on the report’s discussion of the “wizard behind the curtain” problem, which impedes the independence of the IRS Appeals function.

As background, when taxpayers disagree with audit adjustments proposed by the IRS’ examination division, they have an opportunity to protest the adjustments to a different division within the IRS, known colloquially as Appeals.  The IRS first established this ...