IRS says it will ‘end most’ unannounced visits to taxpayers’ homes by agents

The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday that it will “end most” unannounced visits by agency revenue officers to taxpayers’ homes as part of an effort to address “public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.”

The IRS says the change “reverses a decades-long practice by IRS revenue officers, the unarmed agency employees whose duties include visiting households and businesses to help taxpayers resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns.”

“Effective immediately, unannounced visits will end except in a few unique circumstances and will be replaced with mailed letters to schedule meetings,” the IRS said in a statement.

“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,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said. “Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees.”

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The IRS, citing Werfel, said that “there have been increased security concerns in recent years on multiple fronts.”

“The growth in scam artists bombarding taxpayers has increased confusion about home visits by IRS revenue officers,” it added. “Sometimes scam artists appear at the door posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for not just the taxpayers living there but local law-enforcement.”

The IRS also said its agents “routinely faced hazards and uncertainty” in making the unannounced visits.

“We have the tools we need to successfully collect revenue without adding stress with unannounced visits,” Werfel said in a statement. “The only losers with this change in policy are scammers posing as the IRS.”

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Instead of the unannounced visits, taxpayers will now receive appointment letters known as 725-Bs and will be able to schedule face-to-face meetings at later dates, according to the IRS.

The agency says the “rare instances” in which such visits will continue are for “service of summonses and subpoenas; and also sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government.”

“To put this in perspective, these types of situations typically number less than a few hundred each year — a small fraction compared to the tens of thousands of unannounced visits that typically occurred annually under the old policy,” the IRS said.

The National Treasury Employees Union has come out in support of the change.

“NTEU welcomes the IRS decision to halt unannounced visits by IRS Field Collection employees,” Tony Reardon, its president, said in a statement. “The safety of IRS employees is of paramount importance and this decision will help protect those whose jobs have only grown more dangerous in recent years because of false, inflammatory rhetoric about the agency and its workforce.”