IRS report: taxpayer service levels to fall to new lows.

• Position: IRS news

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson released her 2014 annual report to Congress, which expresses concern that taxpayers this year are likely to receive the worst levels of taxpayer service since at least 2001 when the IRS implemented its current performance measures. In the preface to the report, Olson emphasizes:

* The budget environment of the last five years has brought about a devastating erosion of taxpayer service, harming taxpayers individually and collectively;

* The lack of effective administrative and congressional oversight, in conjunction with the failure to pass taxpayer rights legislation, has eroded taxpayer protections...