The Short of it: Surprise! Most People Don't Like The IRS

Why Public Perception of the IRS Varies and What It Means for Taxpayers

Pretty interesting article from Jeff Simpson of taxprotoday.com outlining the various reasons different people either hate, fear, or just simply try to avoid the Internal Revenue Service. What may surprise some is that one particular study demonstrates that an individual's political party affiliation seems to correlate pretty well with their overall opinion of the agency. Click here to take a look.

As a practitioner that has dealt with the agency and its employees for years now, there's no doubt the massive budget cuts and personnel reductions over the last few years have certainly had an impact on the IRS' handling of its administrative functions, including in the tax audit and appeals arena where we deal with them the most. The early returns, at least from our perspective, is that the increased caseload that IRS Field Agents and Appeals Officers are dealing with have made it more likely that they'll make mistakes in their application of IRS policies and procedures, as well as in their application of the relevant tax laws and regulations in a particular case. That means taxpayers and their representatives need to pay closer attention than ever in order to insure the agency isn't overstepping, and that a fair and just result is being reached in each case.