The IRS is not processing complaints against tax preparers quickly enough, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said.
After reviewing the 8,354 complaints filed against preparers in fiscal 2013, it said almost half of them had yet to be initiated. (Overall, the agency processed about 77 million e-filed federal income tax returns prepared by paid tax return preparers in 2013.)
Further, agency processes do not ensure that complaints are accurately and consistently processed, and processes have not been established to effectively track complaint referrals to IRS business functions to ensure that the complaints are received for evaluation and track how the referred complaints are ultimately resolved, according to TIGTA.
The IRS largely agreed with recommendations to establish goals and procedures to ensure that complaints are timely processed; develop a process to ensure that complaints are recorded in inventory records; and, ensure that criteria for referring complaints to business functions are appropriately applied and that the business functions’ resolution of complaint referrals is tracked.
The agency disagreed however with a recommendation to ensure that the Complaint Referrals Office establishes procedures for case processors to contact taxpayers for missing information in order to work as many complaints as possible.
