AICPA Calls on IRS to ‘Do More’ – Pushes for Action on Relief for Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. (January 10, 2022) – The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) president and CEO, Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, released a statement following a call with officials from the Department of the Treasury and members of the press:
“Today, Treasury officials acknowledged that the upcoming 2021 tax filing season will be ‘frustrating’ for Americans but stopped short of providing any measures they intend to implement to mitigate the expected challenges. For more than 18 months, the AICPA has repeatedly and publicly recommended to the IRS that they take reasonable actions that would meaningfully reduce persistent, unnecessary and erroneous notifications and help American taxpayers. Halting compliance actions until the IRS can devote the necessary resources for timely resolution of issues; aligning requests for account holds with the time it takes the IRS to process any penalty abatement requests; providing taxpayers with a simplified abatement process; and providing taxpayers with targeted relief from underpayment and late payment tax penalties for the 2020 and 2021 tax years are all actions the IRS can take right now. The AICPA is calling on the IRS to do more than simply state the obvious – taxpayers and practitioners deserve solutions. We urge Members of Congress to join us in this effort.”
###
BACKGROUND:
On July 2, 2020, the AICPA submitted a letter to the Department of the Treasury and the IRS once again urging them to act immediately to provide broader tax administrative and penalty relief due to the pandemic.
On November 5, 2020, the AICPA submitted a letter to the Department of the Treasury and the IRS renewing the request for penalty relief for the 2019 tax year filing season.
On November 20, 2020, following testimony given by IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig before the House Committee on Ways & Means, Subcommittee on Oversight, the AICPA released a statement stating current penalty relief measures were not enough.
On December 8, 2020, the AICPA led a coalition of seven professional tax organizations in sending a letter to the Department of the Treasury and the IRS calling on the IRS to offer targeted penalty relief to Americans facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter sent February 16, 2021, the AICPA called attention to the hardship that millions of taxpayers and tax practitioners are facing while making good faith efforts to comply with their tax obligations. The AICPA called for relief from underpayment and late payment penalties for the 2020 taxable year.
On February 24, 2021, the AICPA called for greater certainty for taxpayers and tax practitioners and underpayment and late payment penalty relief, both of which will provide greater assistance to those affected by the pandemic.
On May 17, 2021, the AICPA submitted a letter to the Department of the Treasury and the IRS urging specific penalty relief measures for millions of taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contact: Veronica Vera
202-434-9215
Veronica.Vera@aicpa-cima.com