Treasury Auditors: IRS Needs to Improve Complaint Process
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Internal Revenue Service is not processing complaints against tax preparers in a timely manner, according to a Thursday report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The audit found that the agency’s tax return complaint process is not effective, with 47 percent of cases yet to be addressed from paperwork received between Oct. 1, 2012, and Sept. 11, 2013. Of the 3,953 complaints, 49 percent had been in the IRS’ inventory for at least 60 business days with no work initiated.
“Tax return preparers play an increasingly important role in helping taxpayers to comply with the tax laws,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “Unqualified or unethical tax return preparers can negatively impact taxpayers as well as tax revenue if the tax returns they prepare are incorrect and/or fraudulent.”
In the report, TIGTA made recommendations to the IRS, including that it create procedures and goals to make sure complaints are processed in a timely manner, and to develop a process for recording complaints in inventory.
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