Lawmakers Urge IRS for Pandemic Abatement Process 

Rep. Chu Leads 52 Members of Congress in Requesting IRS

It is available online here and below.

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December 4, 2020

The Honorable Steven T. Mnuchin
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

The Honorable Charles P. Rettig
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224

Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Commissioner Rettig:

The pandemic has created unique challenges for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), tax practitioners, and taxpayers alike. It is clear that Americans need a concerted effort by the IRS to work in good faith with them to address the challenges facing taxpayers, and we commend the work the IRS has already done under difficult circumstances during this pandemic.

However, we write today because more action is needed to alleviate the burdens placed on taxpayers and their advisors, and we urge you to direct the IRS to take the following additional actions immediately to provide late filing and payment relief to taxpayers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Create a special COVID-19 First Time Abatement option for taxpayers eligible for normal First Time Abatement in which the taxpayer or their representative can attest to filing difficulty as a direct result of the pandemic and keep the normal First Time Abatement available for future use, and provide IRS Customer Service Representatives examples of such difficulties, such as no Volunteer Income Tax Assistance available;

• Provide written guidance directing IRS Customer Service Representatives to grant reasonable cause and COVID-related abatement requests liberally and reaffirming that these requests should be resolved orally when possible in order to provide targeted relief to taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic without the need for written requests;

• Develop specific coronavirus-related examples that qualify for reasonable cause abatement and share these examples with all IRS Customer Service Representatives through interim guidance; and

• Develop a dedicated telephone number, or dedicated prompt, for taxpayers or their advisors to call to request coronavirus-related penalty relief.

Moreover, while we appreciate the extraordinary efforts the IRS has taken in the last several weeks to resolve the mail backlog, it still stands at approximately 3 million pieces. We would urge the IRS to stop issuing Notices of Intent to Levy and other compliance correspondence until the mail backlog is resolved at all IRS processing centers to limit taxpayer confusion and reduce additional correspondence with the IRS that is unnecessary.

Unfortunately, many taxpayers are facing illness, death, economic hardships, or business closures due to COVID-19. Taxpayers expect reasonable and fair treatment from their government, and the current unwillingness to provide an expedited process for taxpayers and their advisors to request pandemic-specific relief fails to meet these minimum standards.

We ask that you move to address these issues immediately so that the American people can receive the relief they urgently need.

Sincerely,