Tax News Archive:

National Taxpayer Advocate is set to step down in the fall

Val Oveson, National Taxpayer Advocate plans to leave his post sometime this fall. He was the one given the job of overhauling this office after the IRS Reconstructing and Reform Act of 1998 was enacted by Congress. His job was making the office more taxpayer friendly and more approachable by the regular Americans but also to make recommendations to Congress on how to improve the tax legislation that exists today. Two years after taking over the job, the newly restructured National Taxpayer Advocate is ready for a new leader. The organization is being left in great shape and it has matured immensely under Mr. Oveson’s leadership.

His main achievements in his office are:

  • Instead of reporting to district directors, each state’s assigned taxpayer advocates now report directly to the national taxpayer advocate’s office. This minimizes administrative issues plus gives them more power and freedom in decision-making.
  • This group of taxpayer advocates in individual states is now known as the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). There are about 74 taxpayer advocates with 2000 employees working for the TAS.
  • "Improve customer service and reduce taxpayer burden", National Taxpayer Advocate makes recommendations on these issues each year to the Congress based on the 20 most difficult and troublesome issues faced by taxpayers today. These issues are presented in an annual report.

The job of the National Taxpayer Advocate is to solve the issues or concerns faced by taxpayers in dealings with the IRS while staying "independent". The job of this office is to represent your interests to the best of their ability that have not found a solution going through the "normal" channels at the IRS. Taxpayer Advocates exist out there to help the distressed taxpayer and save him money that he would normally spend on getting professional help. Their job is to restore the taxpayer’s faith in the system.

You can contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service by calling 1-877-777-4778.