Tax Tips
| Publication year | 1978 |
| Pages | 1148 |
| Citation | Vol. 7 No. 7 Pg. 1148 |
1978, July, Pg. 1148. Tax Tips
The Denver, Colorado District Liaison Meeting commenced at 9 A.M. Present were representatives from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Public Accountants' Society of Colorado and the Colorado Association of Enrolled Agents. Peter M. Van Zante, Chairman of the Liaison Committee of the Tax Section of the Colorado Bar Association made introductory remarks.
Mr. Mihlbachler welcomed everybody to the District Liaison Meeting and expressed his appreciation that representatives of the Public Accountants' Society of Colorado and the Society of Enrolled Agents were in attendance.
Mr. Mihlbachler reported on the reorganization of the IRS. Small Districts including Cheyenne and Albuquerque will be converted to streamlined district offices. These offices will offer all existing taxpayer services, but many of the staff and supporting functions for Albuquerque and Cheyenne will be moved to the Denver office.
The appeals functions of District Conference and Appellate will be merged into a single level of appeal. Regulations on this point are now available. The Audit Division will be renamed the Examination Division and the Intelligence Division will be renamed either the Criminal Enforcement or Criminal Investigation Division. A new Division called Resources Management will combine administration and various processing and computer input activities.
The Disclosure Officer will be transferred from the Audit Division to Taxpayer Service.
William B. Orr is retiring (disability) as Assistant District Director of the Denver District.
It is the mission of the IRS to administer the tax laws in the best possible manner. However, Congress should devote substantial effort to tax simplification. Senator Haskell held a hearing in Colorado on March 28, by the Subcommittee on Administration of the Internal Revenue Code, Senate Finance Committee. Gerald Mihlbachler and Regional Commissioner Walter Coppinger testified at the hearing.
Mr. Mihlbachler mentioned a tour of the Ogden Service Center which was held on May 5. The details appeared in the District Newsletter or may be obtained from Robert Morris, Public Affairs Officer, at 837-3575.
The Problem Resolution Office has been in existence for about a year. This office generally does not get involved if there is an existing available appeal. Also, it should not be considered to be a source of technical advice. This office excludes freedom of information or privacy act questions, informant, or IRS employee integrity. The same power of attorney rules apply to this office as to IRS practice generally. Examples of the type of things which this office might handle would be resolution of difficulties with estimated tax payments being credited to a taxpayer's account, employment tax credit problems or unreasonably delayed refund claims. In collection cases, the office might insure that the taxpayer was speaking to the proper collection officer.
Mr. Bond pointed out two telephone numbers of special interest to tax practitioners: 837-5725, providing a technical information hot line for tax practitioners---this hot line is staffed by particularly experienced and competent agents; information about IRS employee integrity problems may be directed directly to the District Director, 837-5801, or the Inspection Office, 837-2669.
Mr. Santambrogio indicated his willingness to help practitioners locate relevant IRS manual materials. While in theory, the Freedom of Information still applies to the IRS and is relevant to Freedom of Information Act requests to the IRS, as a practical matter, now Code § 6103 as amended by the 1976 Reform Act provides the actual operative rules. This Code section controls the more general principles of the Freedom of Information Act and sets forth the items which the IRS is not obligated to disclose.
IRS employees have become very much more concerned with seeing...
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