Staff Reports
In a surprising turn of events, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that they will be putting an end to “most” unannounced home visits. This news comes after independent journalist Matt Taibbi had an unannounced visit from the IRS while he was testifying before Congress. It seems that the IRS was looking into Taibbi’s tax return to make sure there was no identity fraud, but they failed to produce the letters they claimed to have sent him and there was no evidence of any fraud. In fact, Taibbi was entitled to a substantial refund. It’s unclear why the IRS opened a case against him to begin with or why they showed up at his home.
But Taibbi’s case wasn’t the only one. There was also the story of an Ohio taxpayer who had an IRS agent show up at her home using a fake alias. Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has asked why the IRS is using deceptive tactics like fake names to harass Americans.
Course Correction: IRS Announces End to 'Most' Unannounced Home Visits (e.g., except conservatives like Trump) https://t.co/P0V07g7lQl
— Heather O'Brien Pronouns: Told/You/So 🐰 #🟦 (@Heat005498) July 24, 2023
The good news is that the IRS has finally realized that unannounced home visits are not the way to go. They have announced that, going forward, most unannounced visits will end and will be replaced with mailed letters to schedule meetings. However, there will still be some instances where unannounced visits will occur, such as when serving summonses or subpoenas, or in sensitive enforcement activities. The IRS claims that these instances will be rare, but it’s still disconcerting to know that tens of thousands of unannounced visits were happening annually.
Overall, it’s a positive step that the IRS is changing this long-standing procedure. It will increase confidence in the tax administration process and improve the safety of taxpayers and IRS employees. Kudos to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and his staff, as well as Matt Taibbi, for bringing attention to this issue and pushing for change. It’s important to shine a light on practices that are ripe for overhaul and hold government agencies accountable.c
