Ten of 18 IRS revenue officers misstated the rules on taxpayer-initiated follow-ups

The report exists because a statute requires one every year. The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 tells TIGTA to report annually on the agency's compliance with the direct contact provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section 7521 and the Fair Tax Collection Practices rule at Section 6304(a)(2) ^[1]. The method is a database query: TIGTA searched IRS data systems for cases in which a taxpayer was represented, then evaluated those cases ^[4]. The systems carry no marker for the event the statute restricts, so the agency cannot produce a list of cases in which an employee went around a CPA, an enrolled agent or an attorney ^[2].

On the sampled cases the finding was mild. Field Collection employees largely complied with taxpayers' rights under Section 7521(c) ^[5]. The same report also says that determining whether the IRS is complying with the right to representation and the direct contact provisions is difficult ^[3]. For a practitioner arguing a specific case, the second sentence is the useful one, because the absence of an IRS record is not evidence that a bypass contact never happened.

The interview work is smaller than the topic sounds. Four managers and 18 employees from the Small Business/Self-Employed Division's Field Collection function answered questions about the rules ^[6]. Eight employees could not correctly explain the procedures for responding to a taxpayer's voicemail, and 10 misstated the procedures for taxpayer-initiated follow-ups ^[7][8]. Five did not know that taxpayers have 10 business days to consult a representative ^[9]. Ten wrongly said that audio recording an in-person interview is not permitted ^[10]. That is 33 wrong answers from 18 people, about 1.8 each, and the counts are reported by topic rather than by employee ^[1].

The report says revenue officers are not consistent in their understanding of Internal Revenue Manual requirements on direct contact, representation and taxpayer rights ^[11]. It adds: "These inconsistencies may result in improper application of procedures and increase the risk of taxpayer rights not being properly upheld" ^[12].

The 10-day item is the one that gets used on a live call. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights guarantees the right to retain an authorized representative, and in most situations the IRS must suspend an interview when a taxpayer asks to consult one ^[17]. About 28 per cent of the interviewed employees did not know the 10-business-day window exists ^[2]. That is 18 people in one function, not a measured rate for the agency ^[6].

One recommendation came out of the review. The collection policy director for SB/SE should refine the training on taxpayer representation and clarify how the rights must be observed in enforcement procedures, with emphasis on the circumstances where direct communication with represented taxpayers is permitted ^[13]. Management agreed and located the work inside existing continuing professional education ^[14]. "During Fiscal Year 2025, Field Collection incorporated additional direct contact scenarios into both new hire and on-the-job training. In Fiscal Year 2026, we supplemented those efforts through workshops, executive communications, and continuing guidance to reinforce proper application of direct contact procedures," Lia Colbert, commissioner of the IRS SB/SE Division, said ^[15].

My read: the training numbers are what a representative can use next week, and the missing case indicator is what matters over years. The counter-argument is stronger than it looks, because training decays while a data field does not, and a case-level flag would give TIGTA a denominator and give a client a record to point at ^[2]. Next year's mandated report settles which reading holds ^[1]. If the workshops Colbert described took hold, the misstatement counts should fall ^[15]; if TIGTA again reports that compliance is difficult to determine, the annual verdict remains a sample of cases the watchdog had to go looking for ^[3][4].