Before sending your case to Appeals, the IRS Examination or Collection office that made a tax assessment or initiated collection action will consider your protest and attempt to resolve the disputed tax issues.
When you come to Appeals, you may represent yourself or have a professional represent you. Your representative must be:. If you want your representative to talk to us without you, you must provide us with a copy of a completed power of attorney Form , Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative PDF. We require a formal written protest to request an Appeals conference, unless you qualify under the Small Case Request procedures discussed below. Note: If you disagree with a lien, levy, seizure or a denial, modification or termination of an installment agreement, see Publication , Collection Appeal Rights PDF , for information on filing your protest.
You must send your formal written protest within the time limit specified in the letter that offers you the right to appeal the proposed changes. Generally, the time limit is 30 days from the date of the letter. You may request audit reconsideration in two cases:. Note : Remember that even if the IRS accepts your request they may not change their original assessment.
Once your request has been considered, or if more information is needed, the IRS will contact you. Whether they have reduced the tax they initially assessed or not, you will now have the choice of paying your tax liability or making an Appeal. If you decide to pay your taxes, you may pay the bill in full, make an Installment Agreement Request , or make an Offer-in-Compromise.
Though the IRS sends examination notices every year, the good news is that they do not send as many notices compared to previous years. Read on to learn more about the latest tax audit statistics and history. No Income are returns that do not show positive income. Get Your Tax Refund Date. What is DocuClix? Security About eFile. That employee then will be able to send your appeal request, along with your case file, to Appeals.
Once your case arrives in Appeals, we will assign it to an Appeals Officer or Settlement Officer depending on the type of case. Our goal is to have the assigned Appeals employee contact you by mail or telephone within approximately 30 days of receiving your case; however, it is taking longer these days due to pandemic-related delays and other resource constraints. If you have made an Appeals request and feel an unreasonable amount of time has passed, you can read more about how to check on the status of your appeal in the frequently asked questions FAQs under what to expect from appeals.
To evaluate your case, the Appeals Officer will fully consider your position and arguments along with the administrative case file from the IRS compliance person who worked your case. You may request to view the non-privileged part of the Compliance file prior to meeting with Appeals. One of the most helpful things you can do is provide all relevant facts, documents and other information supporting your position to the IRS compliance person working your case before it comes to Appeals.
In this way, Appeals will have available all the information necessary to fully review your case. Appeals Officers and Settlement Officers try to resolve cases after holding a taxpayer conference or by correspondence. But, some complex cases may take more than one conference to resolve. During your appeal, the Appeals Officer or Settlement Officer will discuss with you the facts of your case and how the law applies to these facts.
Sometimes the facts and tax law are quite apparent. In other cases, the facts may be difficult to tie down or the law may be subject to multiple interpretations. When faced with this type of uncertainty, the Appeals Officer may review court decisions to see how the courts have ruled in similar situations. As mentioned earlier, Appeals may also consider the "hazards of litigation" or the probable outcome if your case were to go to court.
Prepare copies of all necessary receipts, statements, and any other forms you need to prove your case. Break down information clearly on spreadsheets that the appeals officer can easily understand.
Even hand-made visual presentations can be effective if the situation calls for them. Create a separate file folder for each contested item for the officer's convenience. Appeals case hearings tend to be fairly informal and you can record the proceedings if you desire.
It is advisable to create at least a rough outline of what you want to tell the officer, and you may want to go over your points beforehand. Once you are in front of the officer, clearly articulate any errors you feel the auditor committed during the audit.
However, do not badmouth either the auditor or the IRS no matter how much you may want to. Be prepared to hear the officer request further documentation or time to research a matter. If this happens, don't hesitate to ask for as much time as you need, especially if the matter requires your involvement. And make sure you take very careful notes of what the officer says during the hearing if aren't or can't recording the session.
Appeals officers are instructed to avert the chance of the IRS losing a case in court. The first thing you should ask the appeals officer to do is waive any penalties that the auditor assessed. The officer can do this fairly easily if they are convinced that your intentions aren't fraudulent. Agreeing to pay at least a few of the adjustments also shows good faith, but don't specify which ones.
The willingness to compromise will raise your credibility in the eyes of the officer. Speak in terms of adjustments, items, or percentages—not dollars. It goes without saying that the art of negotiation is paramount in determining the results that you get from the hearing.
It should be noted that signing this form will prevent you from taking the IRS to U. Tax Court if you should later find another mistake made by either the auditor or the appeals officer. Before you sign, be sure you thoroughly understand everything printed on it. Make certain that the numbers on the form correlate with the verbal agreement you reached during the meeting and don't hesitate to consult a tax professional if you have questions of any kind. There is a very small number of taxpayers who actually appeal their audits.
Why this percentage is so low is something of a mystery, given the ease and speed of the appeals process. But appealing an audit can often reduce or even eliminate previously assessed taxes and penalties. It also costs nothing, unless you enlist the aid of a tax professional, which is usually unnecessary.
The odds of winning your case are surprisingly high. What's more, appealing your case delays the due date of your tax bill for the duration of the appeals process, which can last for months. This gives you additional time to gather the funds necessary to pay the assessment or work out a payment plan.
There are only a couple of instances in which the audit process may prove to be detrimental. There is a possibility that the appeals officer may find additional items that the auditor missed. This is rare, but if you know of something detrimental on your return that was not flagged previously and could still be found, suing the IRS in U.
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