IRS managers were ordered to be back in the office on May 8th. IRS staff-level employees were given a one-month extension. On June 8th, all IRS employees are to be back in their offices. IRS employees, however, may request permission to work from home. Permission will, at least in part, depend on their work function. For example, an IRS employee in the IRS audit group who works at the taxpayer’s location most of the time will more likely be allowed to work from home. Some collection agents may also be allowed to work from home.

As many of us are unfortunately well aware, the IRS has been difficult to impossible to reach by phone since the start of COVID—over two years ago. The return to offices will likely ease the phone jams. The inability to reach IRS employees has resulted in thousands of Tax Court Petition Filings that have backlogged the system. In an effort to alleviate the backlog, each IRS Appeals agent has been assigned 100 cases that must be settled within two months.

If Tax Court cases aren’t resolved with the Appeals Agent, the matter is forwarded to an IRS attorney with the IRS’s local office. Taxpayers or their representative will have an opportunity to work with the IRS attorney assigned to their case to resolve the matter. IRS attorneys have also been working from home and with the lack of cases being docketed by the Tax Court, thousands of cases have piled up.

Taxpayers should be aware that the IRS attorney will have to obtain management approval of whatever offer and resolution they have proposed. Management approval is not assured and an attorney’s recommendation can be overridden. Tax Court hearings have been conducted via Zoom with the taxpayer and their representative being requested to participate from separate locations/rooms.

Gene M. Bowman, Attorney, Bowman Law Firm, Huntsville, Alabama