A recent watchdog report claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is unable to locate thousands of records that were kept at a facility in Utah, in addition to thousands of microfilm cartridges that contain millions of sensitive individual and business tax account records that were supposed to be transferred from a closed agency facility in California.

A report released Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) stated in that it found significant short comings in safeguarding and accounting for millions of tax records that contained sensitive taxpayer information as part of a review of the IRS’ required storage of old tax records in microfilm backup cartridges.

The IRS has announced a major yet “common-sense” policy change that will put an end to most unannounced agent visits to taxpayers’ homes.  This move reverses decades of policy that saw IRS revenue officers knock on the doors of taxpayers’ homes without forewarning in attempts to resolve delinquent tax matters.

The IRS says that the reason for the change is to lower the risk that anxiety-provoking surprise home visits by tax enforcement agents could spiral out of control, posing a hazard to both taxpayers and agency field officers.  Experience has shown that unannounced door knocks at homes and businesses were high-risk encounters, with agents routinely facing “hazards and uncertainty” when making surprise visits, according to the IRS.

Did you know that there is a Taxpayer Bill of Rights to help protect all taxpayers?

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any IRS inquiry, examination, or enforcement action will comply with the law and be no more intrusive than necessary. Taxpayers can also expect that the IRS will respect all due process rights, including search and seizure protections and will provide, where applicable, a collection due process hearing.