Letter to Hon. Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, Hon. Charles Rettig, Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service - Tillis, Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Wave Late Filing Penalties for Taxpayers

Letter

Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Commissioner Rettig:
The pandemic has created unique challenges for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), tax
practitioners, and taxpayers alike. It is clear that Americans need a concerted effort by the IRS to
work in good faith with them to address the challenges facing taxpayers during this pandemic.
We write because more action is needed to alleviate the burdens placed on taxpayers and their
advisors, and we urge you to direct the IRS to take the following additional actions immediately
to provide late filing and payment relief to taxpayers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic:
* Create a special COVID-19 First Time Abatement option for taxpayers eligible for
normal First Time Abatement in which the taxpayers or their representative can attest to
filing difficulty as a direct result of the pandemic and keep the normal First Time
Abatement available for future use, and provide IRS Customer Service Representatives
examples of such difficulties, such as no Volunteer Income Tax Assistance available;
* Provide written guidance directing IRS Customer Service Representatives to grant
reasonable cause and COVID-related abatement requests liberally and reaffirming that
these requests should be resolved orally when possible in order to provide targeted relief
to taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic without the need for written requests;
* Develop specific coronavirus-related examples that qualify for reasonable cause
abatement and share these examples with all IRS Customer Service Representatives
through interim guidance; and
* Develop a dedicated telephone number, or dedicated prompt, for taxpayers or their
advisors to call to request coronavirus-related penalty relief.
We appreciate the efforts the IRS has taken to resolve the mail backlog, although it still stands at
approximately 3 million pieces. We urge the IRS to consider stopping the practice of issuing
Notices of Intent to Levy and other compliance correspondence until the mail backlog is resolved
at all IRS processing centers to limit taxpayer confusion and reduce unnecessary correspondence
with the IRS.
Many taxpayers are facing economic hardships, and business closures due to COVID-19.
Taxpayers expect fair treatment from their government, and the current unwillingness to provide
an expedited process for taxpayers and their advisors to request pandemic-specific relief places
an undue burden on them.
We ask that you move to address these issues immediately so the American people can receive
the relief they urgently need.

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