TaxMasters Fights for Your Rights

TaxMasters, Inc. is in business because the IRS has a long track-record of treating taxpayers poorly. It is our mission to help taxpayers who have fallen out of compliance with the IRS and who owe substantial tax debts to complete these two primary actions:

1. Take the necessary steps to regain compliance with the IRS
2. Analyze your financial situation and work with you and the IRS to establish a reasonable repayment or settlement plan to resolve your tax debt

TaxMasters guards the rights of its clients, protecting you from illegal IRS abuse. We can walk you through the steps necessary to regain IRS compliance, which is the first step in resolving any tax problem.

The law requires the IRS to observe a number of taxpayer rights. However, the IRS has repeatedly been found to have violated taxpayers rights over the years. TaxMasters makes sure the IRS follows their own rules, discouraging them from abusing your rights as a taxpayer.

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Your Taxpayer Rights

Right to Representation

You have the right to representation before the IRS. Your representative must be a person qualified to practice before the IRS. If the IRS is asking you questions, you can inform them that you wish to engage a representative and the IRS must stop and reschedule the interview in most cases.

TaxMasters employees include attorneys, certified public accountants, and enrolled agents, all of which are authorized to represent you before the IRS. When we interact with the IRS on your behalf, we use qualified tax experts such as those named above, while allowing case managers, customer service representatives, and other office professionals to complete the majority of work on your case. Your authorized IRS representative will be named on the power of attorney on file for you with the IRS.

Right to a Hearing

You have the right to attend a Collections Due Process Hearing before the IRS can seize your assets in an effort to satisfy your tax debt.

Your right to attend a collections due process hearing is the direct result of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA ’98). Until RRA ’98 was signed into law, the IRS did not give taxpayers the chance to explain their side of the story before seizing and selling their assets. During the Congressional testimonies that led to RRA ‘98, many IRS abuses were exposed. The incredible thing is that taxpayers would come forward only on condition of anonymity for fear of IRS retribution. To our knowledge, this was the first time in the history of Congressional testimonies that Congress allowed people to testify anonymously.

TaxMasters exists today in large part because Congress wanted to make certain the IRS would not be allowed to continue to abuse taxpayers.

Protection of Your Rights

IRS employees are required to explain and protect your rights as a taxpayer at all times and throughout your contact with them.

Some IRS agents and examiners are notorious for misrepresenting the truth to get you to say something you should not. Having an IRS representative helps you make sure your rights are protected throughout interactions with the IRS.

Privacy and Confidentiality

The IRS is not allowed to share your information with anyone, except as authorized by law. You have the right to know why the IRS is asking for information, how they will use it, and what may happen if you don’t provide the information.

We have seen repeatedly that IRS examiners, in particular, seem to have an interesting interpretation of this right. Seldom does an IRS examiner ask a question that he or she doesn’t already know the answer to, and often is trying to get you to reveal more information that he or she can use to collect additional revenue. Misleading taxpayers seems to be the norm in examinations. Watch out!

Professional and Courteous Service

If you have been treated poorly by an IRS employee, the IRS requests that you report the incident to that employee’s supervisor first and to the IRS director for your area after that.

This complaint system is outdated and ineffective. You are far better off hiring an outside representative to keep IRS abuses from happening in the first place.

Pay Only What You Owe

You are responsible for paying the correct amount of tax and no more. If you cannot pay all your tax when it is due, you may qualify to make monthly installment payments.

There are often disagreements between taxpayers and the IRS on the amount of tax owed. The IRS assumes they are right unless you or your representative can prove or show otherwise.

Unresolved Tax Problems

If your attempts at resolving your tax problem have been unsuccessful, you can take the matter to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which is a division of the IRS itself.

When the IRS is being completely unreasonable, or for people facing significant hardship because of their tax problem, we have had some success engaging the Taxpayer Advocate Service. However, they tend to be understaffed and keep a full caseload. Access and service are sometimes problematic.

Appeals and Judicial Review

If you disagree with the IRS about the amount of tax you owe, you have the right to ask the Appeals Office or a court to review your case.

If you get to this point with a tax problem, you should seriously consider engaging a representative to shepherd you through the appeals process.

Relief from Penalties and Interest

The IRS will waive some penalties and interest in certain situations.

To qualify for this, you must be able to prove you acted reasonably and in good faith, that you relied on incorrect advice from the IRS, or that interest charges were the direct result of errors or delays caused by the IRS.

The information on this page is not intended to be tax advice. We highly recommend hiring a representative before contacting the IRS directly. If you are in need of tax representation, you may contact us today or call now at 1-800-581-0456.