On February 12th the National Taxpayer Advocate issued a report with enormous implications for accounts payable professionals seeking help with their 1099/1042-S filing/compliance related questions.

A little background information first. Five years ago the IRS put in place a policy under which it would only answer tax-law questions during the filling season (January through mid-April). It also narrowed the scope of questions it would answer during the filing season by dramatically broadening its list of “out-of-scope” topics. The IRS justified these restrictions as a cost-saving step. Needless to say, this has meant that getting timely and accurate answers to your 1099/1042-s information reporting related questions has been impaired ever since and even though that is ostensibly supposed to be a core IRS function.

Then, about a year ago the IRS said it would answer questions relating to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that had been passed in December of 2017 and do so throughout the year. But in fact that proved not be the case. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate's new report "callers encountered inconsistent service, even when asking questions about the TCJA that the IRS had indicated it would answer.  In the Fall, several TAS callers were read the same script: “There is no tax law personnel at this time due to budgetary cuts. This tax topic cannot be answered at this time."

From there the National Taxpayer Advocate reports that: "On many calls, the answering employee told the caller the call would be transferred; the transfer ended with a pre-recorded message stating the question was out-of-scope and the call was then disconnected. On other calls, answering employees told callers they had not yet received any or much training on the TCJA and apologized for being unable to help."

With the IRS refusing to answer your information reporting and compliance questions where do you turn?

We would be more than happy to help. Our nationally recognized TIR Answer Center brings together veteran tax attorneys to answer all of your 1099/1042-S reportable information reporting and compliance questions in two business days or less. Plus, those answers are provided in writing to help you establish reasonable cause for your reporting decisions. Please feel feel to read more about our services at this website or reach out and ask about the other numerous benefits provided by a subscription to the TIR Answer Center.