What does the Taxpayer Advocate do?

The Taxpayer Advocate’s office is a special position set up after the congressional hearings on the IRS revealed problems in how the IRS sometimes treats taxpayers. There is a national taxpayer advocate office and also one in each state. In general, I contact this office when I have tried to deal with my client’s problem and cannot get a satisfactory response from the IRS. The taxpayer advocate will contact supervisors or administrators on the state, regional or national level and try to cut through “red tape” to help reach a solution. Also, if there is a real emergency where your health, livelihood, etc. are threatened by an impending IRS action, such as levy, one can file a “Form 911” Taxpayer Assistance Order that gets immediate attention. This usually is done only on rare occasions, but the results are usually gratifying.