IRS Halts Surprise Visits To Taxpayers’ Homes And Businesses Over Safety Concerns
On Monday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that they would be drastically reducing the number of unannounced inspections of homes and businesses — citing supposed safety concerns for agency personnel, along with the possibility of scammers posing as IRS agents.
Protocol in the past involved IRS agents appearing at the door of a home or business to collect unpaid taxes or unfiled tax returns. However, these concerns have prompted a change in that policy. Now, officials will only be going door-to-door in extraordinary circumstances — in cases that include seizing assets or delivering summonses and subpoenas.
In their announcement, the IRS noted that only a few hundred out of the tens of thousands of unannounced inspections conducted each year fall into those categories.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel explained the decision in a statement.
“These visits created extra anxiety for taxpayers already wary of potential scam artists,” Werfel wrote. “At the same time, the uncertainty around what IRS employees faced when visiting these homes created stress for them as well. This is the right thing to do and the right time to end it.”
“We are taking a fresh look at how the IRS operates to better serve taxpayers and the nation, and making this change is a common-sense step,” he added.
Instead, taxpayers will now be contacted via letters in the mail that will offer them an opportunity to meet with an IRS official in person.
The IRS contacting a taxpayer via mail is not unusual. As One America News noted, “Before conducting door-to-door visits, the IRS routinely sends numerous letters and normally carries two kinds of official identification, their IRS-issued credentials and an HSPD-12 card, which is distributed to all federal government employees. Both IDs feature serial numbers and photographs of the individual, which you may inspect if you suspect the official is a fraud.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) celebrated the change in a statement.
“Finally, the IRS has heeded Republicans’ calls to end its practice of unannounced, threatening visits to the homes of South Carolinians and taxpayers around the country,” he wrote. “I’m proud to have successfully fought to provide meaningful protections for Americans and make strides in ending the IRS’ harassment of hard-working people.”
Scott also noted in the statement that the decision came after “numerous serious reports of IRS employee misconduct.”
“The move to hold the IRS accountable came as multiple outlets reported the IRS’ troubling pattern of harassing taxpayers and violating their rights during heavy-handed visits to private homes and businesses,” the statement continued, linking to several instances of concerning actions from IRS officials — including the coincidental timing of IRS agents visiting the home of independent journalist Matt Taibbi on the same day he was scheduled to testify before Congress about government collusion with social media companies to censor private citizens.
