The IRS has closed overseas offices and cut other services that has left many Americans living abroad with a lack of support, says the National Taxpayer Advocate, the consumer branch of the US tax man.
The National Taxpayer Advocate is tasked with reviewing how the IRS interacts with consumers and reports to Congress every year.
The latest report argues the IRS “does not sufficiently address the unique needs of international taxpayers.”
The IRS is lambasted for cutting services for expats in recent years, while the number of US taxpayers filing from overseas has steadily increased.
The reason, says the National Taxpayer Advocate is simply a drive to cut costs and disregards any efforts to improve services.
Help line overwhelmed
As local offices overseas have closed for expats, they are forced to pay to phone a helpline in the US that is overwhelmed with callers or try to find the information they need online.
The plug was pulled on the last free tax information service for US expats was the ending of the Electronic Tax Law Assistance Programme (ETLA) in October 2015.
Prior to that the R-mail system which allowed customer service staff to send complex queries to staff with the knowledge to respond was also cut.
The National Taxpayer Advocate has often pointed out that expat taxpayers need specialist advice and has often reported to Congress that the IRS has ignored or slowly responded to pleas to change the system.
“By closing doors on means of communication from overseas, the IRS has effectively cut expat taxpayers adrift,” said the National Taxpayer Advocate report.
Suggestions to help US expat tax filing
“They have no way of keeping up with tax changes and unless they make an error on their filing or their return is subject of an inquiry, expats have little or no communication with the IRS unless they have done something wrong.”
The National Taxpayer Advocate wants the IRS to bring in changes to help US expats.
Top of the suggestion list is a recommendation that the IRS should open four international offices and fund a tax advocate position in each.
The body also wants the IRS to launch a study to determine whether opening more international offices would improve relationships and tax collection with expats.
Other recommendations include setting up better telephone services for expats.
“The IRS has ignored our earlier recommendations and we hope they take more notice of what we are saying now,” said a National Taxpayer Advocate spokesman.