Taxpayer Advocate Service TAS Says Tax Code Is Broken

January 11th, 2011 by Income Tax Pro

Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) released their annual report to Congress this week, stating that the IRS tax code is broken and needs to be fixed yet no attempt to reform the tax code has been made. TAS is the voice for taxpayers, an independent organization within the IRS that is meant to help taxpayers resolve problems and make recommendations to the IRS and congress each year.

Some interesting statistics from the TAS:

Taxpayers and business spend 6.1 billion hours a year on tax-filing requirements.
Equivalent of 3 million full-time workers estimated to work those 6.1 billion hours.
60% of taxpayers pay an income tax preparer to do tax filing for them.
29% of taxpayers use tax software to prepare and file taxes.
Average individual taxpayer pays $258 each year to comply with income tax filing requirements.

Tax code is broken statement is not a surprise to most Americans who have been complaining about the tax code for many years. How large an industry we have created simply to collect money from ourselves is always a surprise when reminded.

If you would like to get involved with tax reform, need help with an IRS tax problem, or would like to read what’s going on visit the Taxpayer Advocate Service website for more information.