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a Letter from the IRS?
IR-2010-3, Jan. 11, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today unveiled its first redesigned
notices that are part of an on-going effort to improve the way it corresponds
with taxpayers.
The nine new notices are among the first to be reviewed and revised for
clarity, effectiveness and efficiency. The agency also will create an office
that ensures the effort to improve communications is on-going and permanent.
“One of my priorities is to ensure that we have clear and simple
communication with taxpayers. In the past, our notices often looked more like
legal documents and not an effort to communicate clearly. The differences
between the old and new notices are like night and day. They show the potential
of our on-going effort in this area,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
In July 2008, Shulman appointed the Taxpayer Communications Taskgroup to
review IRS correspondence. The task group found that IRS notices have different
looks, messages and do not use consistent language. Because of this, some
notices are creating unnecessary confusion for taxpayers.
Nine notices will feature the new design format beginning in January. These
notices account for approximately 2 million pieces of correspondence with
individuals, businesses and exempt organizations.
The new format includes a plain language explanation of the nature of the
correspondence, clearly states what action the taxpayer must take and presents a
consistent, clean design. The new format also guides taxpayers to appropriate
pages on IRS.gov where they can find accurate and relevant information quickly
and easily.
By reducing the potential for confusion, these notices will improve the
taxpayers’ ability to get problems resolved quickly, and improve overall
compliance.
Shulman also announced this important work will be made a permanent part of
the IRS through a new office to oversee improvements to taxpayer correspondence.
The new office, called Office of Taxpayer Correspondence, will be directed by
Jodi Patterson, who led the initial effort.
Tax preparers are already seeing some of this effort. In March, the IRS
reduced to 2 from 13 the number of inserts included to tax preparers as part of
notice CP 161, which is mailed to business taxpayers who underpay their taxes.
There are approximately 2.3 million CP 161 notices sent annually.
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