Dateline: June 25, 2014

After years of being “encouraged” by its own U.S. Taxpayer Advocate to do so, the IRS has adopted a “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.” The agency says it will be posted in all IRS facilities for its employees to see and hopefully take to their chilly little hearts.

As the IRS notes in a press release, there are already many taxpayer rights, but they are “embedded” like microscopic needles hidden in the vast haystack we call the U.S tax code.


So, the IRS took all of those rights in the tax code and sort of mashed them up into 10 “broad categories” of rights published in a new document called Your Rights as a Taxpayer.

Starting this year, all taxpayers – millions of them – who receive IRS notices on tax issues ranging from audits to collection, will also get a copy of Your Rights as a Taxpayer.

“The Taxpayer Bill of Rights contains fundamental information to help taxpayers," said IRS Commissioner John A. Koskinen in a press statement. “Respecting taxpayer rights continues to be a top priority for IRS employees, and the new Taxpayer Bill of Rights summarizes these important protections in a clearer, more understandable format than ever before.”

The 10 rights listed by the IRS in its official Taxpayer Bill of Rights are:

1. The Right to Be Informed
2. The Right to Quality Service
3. The Right to Pay No More than the Correct Amount of Tax
4. The Right to Challenge the IRS’s Position and Be Heard
5. The Right to Appeal an IRS Decision in an Independent Forum

1. The Right to Finality
2. The Right to Privacy
3. The Right to Confidentiality
4. The Right to Retain Representation
5. The Right to a Fair and Just Tax System

The IRS’ Taxpayer Bill of Rights incorporates most of the same rights recommended by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, who has been calling on the IRS to officially incorporate the 10 rights into the tax code since 2007.

The IRS released the Taxpayer Bill of Rights following extensive discussions with the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office inside the IRS that represents the interests of U.S. taxpayers. Since 2007, adopting a Taxpayer Bill of Rights has been a goal of National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, and it was listed as the Advocate’s top priority in her most recent Annual Report to Congress.

“How will taxpayers avail themselves of their statutory rights if they don’t know they have rights or what their rights are,” asked Olson in her 2013 Annual Report to Congress.

Also See:Did IRS’ Lois Lerner Commit Contempt of Congress?

IRS Commission Koskinen urged all taxpayers to read their rights. “We encourage people to take a moment to read the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, especially when they are interacting with the IRS,” he said. “While these rights have always been there for taxpayers, we think the time is right to highlight and showcase these rights for people to plainly see.”