{"id":2604,"date":"2021-09-16T15:09:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T15:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=2604"},"modified":"2021-09-16T15:09:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T15:09:30","slug":"taxpayer-advocacy-panel-tap-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/16\/taxpayer-advocacy-panel-tap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to improve the IRS?<\/strong>\u00a8<\/strong>SPEAK UP <\/strong><\/p>\n

By Andrea Price, TAP member representing Ohio
\nThe Truth Contributor<\/p>\n

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel comprises civic-minded citizen volunteers from all walks of life representing each state, D.C., Puerto Rico, and an international member (citizens living, working, or doing business abroad). TAP is a Federal Advisory Committee whose mission is to listen to taxpayers, identify taxpayers\u2019 issues, and make suggestions for improving the IRS service and customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Everyone has something to say about taxes and the IRS. Please take a moment to give us your suggestions for TAP to consider by contacting one of the following:<\/p>\n

TAP Ohio member: tapohioandreaprice@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Call toll-free at:1-888-912-1227<\/p>\n

Website: www.improveirs.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Accelerating Digital Communications to Improve the Taxpayer Experience: CL-21-22, July 16, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

De Lon Harris, IRS Commissioner for Small Business\/Self Employed (SB\/SE) Examination,\u00a0and his team have created a high-priority Taxpayer Digital Communication (TDC) initiative to enhance communications with taxpayers through digital channels.<\/p>\n

The Taxpayer Digital Communication initiatives include secure messaging, a text chat function, and outbound notifications to support taxpayers.<\/p>\n

One of the benefits of Secure Messaging is that it allows IRS customer service representatives (CSRs) to upload large files up to 1GB in size. To date, over 21,000 taxpayers have successfully signed up to take advantage of this service. These improvements have seen digital communication help resolve audits quicker and improve taxpayer satisfaction, with an overall satisfaction rate of over 83% on their customer satisfaction surveys.<\/p>\n

Another function is text Chat that allows the IRS to offer real-time chat assistance to taxpayers and enables CSRs to exchange text messages, files, webpages, and other information to address taxpayer queries. In October 2018, additional chat buttons were added to Letter 16, Please Call Us About Your Overdue Taxes<\/em>, and Letter 24, We\u2019ve Received Your Payment Proposal<\/em>. In March 2019, a proactive chat was implemented on the Additional Instructions on Payment Plans<\/em> webpage. Proactive chat is a pop-up text chat bot that displays when a taxpayer has been on a web page for 30 seconds, but only if a live CSR is available. Authenticated chat was launched in June 2019 to handle Online Payment Agreement questions, and the ability for taxpayers to upload attachments was made available in June 2020.<\/p>\n

The average Automatic Collection System Chat handle time is between six minutes and about 23 minutes, with an average wait time of 35 seconds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taxpayer Digital Communication \u2013 Outbound Notification is a web-based application that gives individual taxpayers access to specific IRS notifications through the Online Account to access notifications and view account balances to make payments. Taxpayers can register for an online account at https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/irs-pdf\/5533.pdf.<\/p>\n

The following notices are now available through taxpayers\u2019 online accounts:<\/p>\n