Help Us Fix “Big Picture” Tax Problems and Advocate for Change

Report Tax Issues That Affect Multiple Taxpayers Using TAS’s Systemic Advocacy Management System

The mission of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) covers what I often refer to as three pillars of service:

1. Protecting taxpayer rights;
2. Helping taxpayers resolve problems with the IRS; and
3. Recommending and advocating for changes that will prevent future problems.

Essentially, everything we do at TAS falls within one of these three pillars. Often on the NTA Blog I dive into topics that cover any and all of these areas but today I want to focus on the third pillar. It is what we refer to as Systemic Advocacy.

What is Systemic Advocacy?

Systemic Advocacy is our way of studying and seeking to resolve problems that affect many individual or business taxpayers, or both. A problem is systemic when it is not just a one-off issue that impacts only one taxpayer, but instead is something that causes problems for a multitude of individual or business taxpayers because of some sort of mistake or malfunction with our tax system or an issue that requires changes to the tax laws.

Examples of some recent systemic issues worked by TAS include problems with:

• Identity theft;
• Clean vehicle credits;
• Penalty abatement process;
• IRS forms and publications;
• IRS letters, correspondence, and collection notices;
• Tax return processing errors; and
• Examination process.

I view advocacy as the willingness and ability to see the situation from a taxpayer’s perspective, advocate for the taxpayer’s rights, assist IRS leadership in integrating the taxpayer’s perspective into tax administration, and being the catalyst for change. Part of my job, and that of my team at TAS, is to identify where mistakes and malfunctions are occurring and either work directly with the IRS to get them fixed in real time or make recommendations to the IRS or Congress that we believe will fix the problem(s) on behalf of taxpayers.

We do this in many ways. One of the most high-profile ways is through the recommendations I make in the Annual Report to Congress, the Objectives Report to Congress, and the Purple Book of legislative recommendations.

Another way is through our Systemic Advocacy Management System (SAMS). SAMS is a valuable tool that we use to identify “big picture” problems, such as issues with tax forms, IRS procedures, or tax laws. It is essentially a database where people can report systemic problems with our tax system. TAS reviews these submissions, researches the associated issues, and, if substantiated, creates projects to work on fixing the issues.

SAMS is one of the first, crucial steps that can lead to significant system-wide changes but we need your help.

If You See Something, Say Something

You may be familiar with the saying often used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “If you see something, say something.” SAMS is a mechanism to use when you see a systemic tax problem.

Tax issues are submitted to SAMS by the general public, and tax professionals such as enrolled agents, tax preparers, tax industry, and Low Income Taxpayer Clinic practitioners, and TAS and IRS employees who identify issues on the job.

SAMS is one example of how TAS can serve as “your voice at the IRS.” To be that voice we must first listen, and from listening we can better understand the real-world issues that need attention. And you – the taxpayer, business owner, tax professional, or even Congressional aide – are an important partner in this process. You are the eyes and ears on the ground. By sharing your experiences with us we can better focus our efforts on the “big picture” tax issues that are causing the most trouble for taxpayers across this country and abroad.

So, when you see a tax problem, say something!

What to Expect When You Submit to SAMS

To report a systemic issue, access the digital SAMS portal located on the IRS website. After answering a series of short questions, you will briefly describe the problem and enter your email address. An email address is required so we can reply to your submission and contact you for any additional information necessary to research the issue.

Please note: Do not enter any personal information such as a Social Security number as the information you submit is transmitted over a non-secure channel.

What Happens After You Make a SAMS Submission

Once you submit an issue to SAMS, we will research the issue to determine whether it is something that is systemic in nature. Regardless of the outcome of that initial analysis, you will receive an email confirming receipt of the submission, thanking you for taking the time to report the issue, and providing the submission number.

What Happens Next?

We will investigate the issue and share it with other departments within TAS or the IRS to determine the appropriate advocacy actions.

After the initial confirmation email, we will only contact you about your issue:

• If we need you to clarify the issue or provide more examples;
• To let you know how we used the information you reported in our advocacy efforts; or
• To inform you about the issue’s status once it’s closed.

Systemic Problems Often Take a Long Time to Resolve

In full transparency, we get a lot of feedback from people who submit issues to SAMS that they do not get any status updates, their issue was closed, or there was never any resolution. There are a lot of different possibilities to consider but there are a few important things to remember:

1. Systemic issues typically do not have an immediate fix.
2. Some issues may be easier to resolve, like fixing a mistake on an IRS form, and some issues are incredibly complicated and may take intensive research and even Congressional action to resolve.
3. Closing a SAMS case is not the end of the road for an issue and does not mean the problem is fixed but rather may trigger the opening of a project to work with our IRS colleagues to resolve the issue or advocate for change

The first two items here are self-explanatory but the third one can cause confusion.

After a TAS analyst researches an issue submitted to SAMS and determines the issue is systemic, that issue may become a “project” assigned to a technical team that will look for a fix. A project may have multiple SAMS issues associated with it. After the project is created, the SAMS issue is closed. That doesn’t mean the issue is resolved; the work will continue in the project to find a resolution.

Also, because of the number of issues associated with a single project, when a project is completed the only person contacted is the person whose SAMS issue was used to create the project. We realize this can be frustrating for anyone who submits an issue and expects to get a response about what happened with their SAMS submission. The good news is that we are working on an upgrade to SAMS. Currently we are building a new customer relationship management system to help us more effectively serve our individual and business taxpayers that come to TAS for help. These improvements will allow us to better communicate with and advocate for taxpayers in the future. I will share more details about this in a future blog. Until then, I encourage you to continue to let us know about any potential systemic issues you or your clients are experiencing by submitting the issues in SAMS.

It may take weeks, months, years, or even decades to make changes but your input matters and can make a difference for taxpayers in your community and across the country.

For more information about SAMS, please read our FAQs about submitting systemic issues and thank you in advance for helping us advocate for taxpayers, taxpayer rights, and an improved tax administration.

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