FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-7601
February 3, 1999
No. OV-1
Congressman Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Annual Report to Congress of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Advocate. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, February 10, 1999, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 2:30 p.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include: from the IRS, Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti, and National Taxpayer Advocate W. Val Oveson; and the U.S. General Accounting Office. Any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
Congress established the requirement that the IRS Taxpayer Advocate submit an annual report to Congress as part of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 (TBOR 2), (P.L. 104-168) in 1996. TBOR 2 was enacted in order to expand the safeguards available to taxpayers in their dealing with the IRS. TBOR 2 directs the IRS Taxpayer Advocate to make an annual report to Congress identifying the initiatives undertaken by the Taxpayer Advocate in the previous fiscal year to improve taxpayer services and IRS responsiveness. The report discusses the 20 most serious problems which taxpayers experience in their dealings with the IRS, and it offers recommendations for administrative and legislative actions to address such recurring problems. The National Taxpayer Advocate recently submitted his third "Annual Report to Congress" covering fiscal year 1998.
Congress reinforced its commitment to safeguarding taxpayer rights last year when it passed the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-206). Title 3 of this Act is known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 3 (TBOR 3). For example, TBOR 3 provides relief to innocent spouses for the liability arising from prior joint tax returns, increases the IRS reimbursement of attorney fees to taxpayers who successfully defend their tax returns in disputes with the IRS, and prohibits the IRS from seizing a taxpayer's home without judicial approval.
The Act also expands requirements for the content of the annual report of the National Taxpayer Advocate. The annual report now must identify areas of the tax law that impose significant compliance burdens on taxpayers or the IRS, must make recommendations for mitigating these burdens, and must list the 10 most litigated issues for each category of taxpayers, including recommendations for reducing such disputes.
In addition, the Act also strengthens the independence and authority of the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate. It provides that local taxpayer advocates would report to the National Taxpayer Advocate instead of to their local operational supervisors. Until this change was made, the performance reviews and promotion decisions effecting local taxpayer advocates often was in the hands of a local operational supervisor whose primary responsibility may not have been taxpayer service. The new legislation assures that all taxpayer advocates function within the same "chain of command."
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Houghton stated: "Congress has enacted significant new taxpayer safeguards over the past few years as a response to public complaints of heavy handed treatment by the IRS. Commissioner Rossotti and the National Taxpayer Advocate should be able to tell us how successful we have been in changing the attitude and practices of the IRS."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will examine the details of the third annual report of the National Taxpayer Advocate and focus on its recommendations for further administrative and legislative actions to help improve taxpayer rights and to reduce taxpayer burdens.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Wednesday, February 24, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Oversight office, room 1136 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.