Over the last three years, there have been 750 "red flag" entries to the account of a taxpayer who has assaulted or threatened an IRS employee. Image: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com
An inspector general report has recommended that the IRS better document instances of “potentially dangerous” taxpayers, in the latest report on an issue that recently led the agency to generally stop unannounced visits to individuals and businesses.
The IG was reviewing a system for adding a red flag to the account of a taxpayer who has assaulted, threatened, or intimidated an IRS employee or family member. Over the last three years, there have been 750 such entries, it said.
“Our review of 790 potentially dangerous taxpayer cases from October 2019 to November 2022 found that it took an average of 30 calendar days from the incident to the potentially dangerous taxpayer indicator posting to the taxpayer’s account. The range of time for indicators to be input took from one to 1,058 calendar days,” said the report.
“Also, guidance to employees on how to report assaults and threats contained inaccurate and inconsistent information”—and is potentially confusing because options include contacting local IG offices, calling various IG or IRS telephone numbers, or completing online incident reporting forms on both the IG’s public website and the IRS’s internal website. “Our site visits found that not all employees knew how to report assaults and threats,” it said.
It said the IRS agreed with its recommendations, including ensuring that employees are trained on incident reporting.
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