Tax Tip 2023-98: IRS ends unannounced revenue officer visits to taxpayers

IRS Tax Tips

August 3, 2023

Issue Number: Tax Tip 2023-98

IRS ends unannounced revenue officer visits to taxpayers

The IRS has ended most unannounced visits to taxpayers by revenue officers.

Ending unannounced visits to taxpayers will increase confidence in IRS?s tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees. Fraudsters bombarding taxpayers by mail, by phone, and in person increased confusion about home visits by revenue officers.

What taxpayers can expect:

In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will instead contact taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a 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, allowing taxpayers to gather the necessary information and documents before the meeting to help reach resolution of their cases more quickly.
The IRS is updating IRS.gov and internal guidance to conform to this policy.

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.

Know how the IRS contacts taxpayers
The IRS will never contact taxpayers by text messages or social media to request personal or financial information. Under certain temporary policies, the IRS may correspond with taxpayers by email, but only after discussing such contact directly with the taxpayer and getting consent. For more details on these situations, taxpayers should visit IRS.gov/UsingEmail

Taxpayers can get answers to tax questions by:

Using the Interactive Tax Assistant, which asks the taxpayer a series of questions and provides answers based on their input.
Checking out Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals), which covers a broad range of topics and updates on tax law changes.
Visiting IRS.gov for info about what to do when a letter from the IRS arrives.
Viewing Publication 5136, IRS Services Guide, for additional ways taxpayers and tax professionals can get help.

?? ?? ?

Thank you for subscribing to IRS Tax Tips, an IRS e-mail service. For more information on federal taxes please visit IRS.gov.

This message was distributed automatically from the IRS Tax Tips mailing list. Please Do Not Reply To This Message.

Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com.

This service is provided to you at no charge by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

This email was sent to [email protected] by: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ? Internal Revenue Service ? 1111 Constitution Ave. N.W. ? Washington DC 20535

Useful Links:

News Essentials

The Newsroom Topics

IRS Resources

Issue Number: Tax Tip 2023-98