Institute Proposes Taxpayer Advocacy Improvements

In a September 23 letter to the IRS national taxpayer advocate, the AICPA tax executive committee suggested ways to improve local taxpayer advocacy offices’ service, which its members said had deteriorated ( www.cpa2biz.com/ResourceCenters/Tax/Tax+Practice/LocalTaxpayerAdvocate.htm ). In a 1999 AICPA survey, 72% of respondents said the technical assistance these offices had given them was “good” or “excellent.” But CPAs recently polled said some offices were less effective than others, leading the committee to call for improvements in employee training and to propose the IRS use practitioners to educate taxpayer advocate service staff in “best practices” for resolving casework issues.