The IRS has an appeals system for those people who do not agree with the results of an
examination of their tax returns or with other adjustments to their tax liability.
If your examination or other adjustment was conducted through a personal interview
with an IRS employee, the employee will explain your appeal rights to you. If you
disagree with the findings, you may request a meeting with the employee's supervisor.
If you still do not reach an agreement, or if the examination or other adjustment
was conducted via correspondence, the IRS will provide you with a report and/or
letter explaining the proposed adjustments and informing you of your right to request
a conference with an appeals officer. The letter will also tell you how to make your
request. If you request an appeals conference, you should be prepared to support
your position.
In addition to examinations many other things can be appealed. Among them are penalties,
including the trust fund recovery penalty, offers in compromise, employment tax adjustments,
liens, levies, seizures, abatement of interest and other claims.
Appeals conferences are informal meetings. You may represent yourself at your Appeals
conference; or, if you want, you may have an attorney, a certified public accountant, or an
individual enrolled to practice before the IRS represent you. If you do not reach an agreement
with the appeals officer, or you do not wish to appeal within the IRS, you may take your appeal
into the courts.
For further information on the appeals process and information on how to stop interest from
accruing on any anticipated liability, order Publication 5, Appeal Rights and Preparation of
Protest for Unagreed Cases and Publication 556, Examination of Returns, Appeal Rights and
Claims for Refund. Also, Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights (for Liens, Levies and
Seizures) discusses how you can appeal those actions. These publications can be ordered by
calling 1-800-829-3676.
Be sure to call for Publication 5 and Publication 1660. Although you may be tempted to do
the appeal yourself, be forewarned that the IRS does take advantage of taxpayers who represent
themselves. Therefore, you should make sure you have a "Qualified" tax lawyer representative
who is familiary with the IRS and knows how to present your collection appeal with legal argument
and tax authority. It is possible that there are substantive issues that can be resolved, it
is possible that the IRS cannot collect as a consequence of the Statute of Limitations, and
there are other numerous issues that can be raised to assist a taxpayer.
