News

Following is a message from the IRS Wage & Investment Division:

There seem to be ongoing questions about certain Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) line services. PPS assistors will continue to work with Forms 2848/8821/8655 representatives to assist with client tax issues by providing verbally certain information from a transcript. Examples would be allocating misapplied payments, correcting math error issues, account adjustments, balance due and missing returns, etc.

The resolution of collection delinquencies will now be exclusively handled by SB/SE’s Automated Collection System (ACS). We understand this is a shift in procedure. We are working to update notices to ensure the notice contains the appropriate phone number for the area that is best suited to assist with the customer/client issue.

We provided clarifying guidance to our PPS assistors that they can provide verbal account balance information, which is a common question. However, under this new division of responsibilities, they will not be able to take any actions for collection activities, including installment agreements and short-term payment plans. The taxpayer or their authorized representative must contact ACS for these account resolutions. Please note that third parties authorized via Form 8821 and Form 8655 are not authorized to act on behalf of the taxpayer to resolve collection delinquencies.

With changes to call routing, some third-party callers may need to be transferred to the correct IRS office. In order to minimize any service disruptions, we updated the PPS automated recording to say: “If your client's account is in Automated Collection System status, ACS, or you need to address balance due issues, press or say 4.”

We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience that this may cause. We are hopeful these changes to the division of work will help IRS to provide better overall telephone service across our organization.