Be cool and professional. I pride myself on being professional, cool and collected in dealing with the IRS. I once had an IRS Appeals Officer hang up on me and an associate because they didn’t like something we said. I, on the other hand, try to not let them get to me and remain above board, with the white hat, on the high ground.
However, sometimes we are all a little like Colonel Jessup in a Few Good Men, when in response to a lawyer’s aggressive question stated, “Take caution in your tone Commander. I’m a fair guy but this (bleeping) heat is making my absolutely crazy.”
In a similar vein, the IRS finally got to me on a recent attempt to obtain some taxpayer account transcripts on the morning of a conference with IRS Appeals regarding a collection due process hearing.
Sometimes it is hard to be cool and professional. I wanted to see taxpayer account transcripts before the hearing. So I went online to download them. My IRS Form 2848 had been filed with the IRS CAF Unit for months. A simple online login should have produced the account transcripts. But the transcripts site would not recognize that my POA was on file.
So I called the tax practitioner priority hotline, which can typically place the transcripts in your IRS
E-services inbox. There was a 30-45 minute hold time. I selected the call back option the IRS now offers as an option and 38 minutes later, an IRS representative called back. By then, my associate who was listed on the power of attorney had joined me in the office. When I introduced my associate, the representative insisted that he leave the room and I take my phone off of speaker. Fine. Whatever.
I faxed in my power of attorney, which is standard when calling the hotline. The taxpayer in this case was a sole proprietorship and the case involved payroll taxes. On the power of attorney form, next to the taxpayers name is a line for “Title (If applicable)” and the taxpayer had not filled in the title part. I explained that this was a sole proprietorship and the taxpayer had no title, making the title line not applicable. The worker refused to accept the POA. I argued in vain for the acceptance of the power of attorney. I did not prevail. I confess that the guy who kicked my associate out of the room and refused to accept my POA because it didn’t have a word on the title line got snapped at by me. I was on my last nerve. However, after a moment, I took a deep breath, apologized for snapping, acknowledged that he was just doing his job, and told him I would fix the POA and call back. We ended on a positive note.
I hung up, had the word “owner” written in the title line and called back. There was then ANOTHER one hour wait. The worker that came on after an hour explained that his computer system was down and could not provide me account transcripts. Several hours and several attempts later to get simple account transcripts, I gave up and proceeded to the Appeals Conference. During the conference, the Appeals Officer arranged to fax me the transcripts the next day. The key words being “fax” and “next day”. Does anyone else use fax anymore other than the IRS?
Practice Points. So what is the moral of this fascinating story? Don’t wait until the morning of the hearing to get needed documents from the IRS. Even IRS account transcripts, which should be perfunctory to obtain, may not be available due to a myriad of difficulties.
No sense losing your cool with the IRS. It gets you nowhere. It is better to be prepared and not put yourself in situations where you need everything to run smoothly in a system where things do not regularly run smoothly. Think ahead and avoid the annoyance.
About the Author. Jared M. Le Fevre is a Partner in the Tax, Trusts and Estates Practice Group of Crowley Fleck PLLP. Mr. Le Fevre represents taxpayers before the IRS, IRS Independent Office of Appeals, Tax Court, Federal District Court and state tax agencies throughout Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, and Utah. Mr. Le Fevre is involved in federal, state and local tax audits, appeals, and tax resolution throughout these western states. Mr. Le Fevre also advises clients on the tax effects of business and real estate transactions.