The National Taxpayer Advocate annual report to congress : A synthesis

National Public Accountant, The, April-May, 2003 by William Stevenson

Congress mandates that the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) provide a full and substantive analysis of activities for the year, including a summary of significant taxpayer problems and recommendations to solve those problems. NTA Nina Olson presented a 400-page report to Congress on December 31,2002.

The following table--The Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers--keeps the order of the rankings in her report. In addition to listing the taxpayer problem, the table contains columns that provide the IRS response, the view of the NTA and the viewpoint of many in the practitioner community, according to NSA's Federal Taxation Committee.

> This table is the equivalent of sound bites taken from one of the most in-depth and well written reports that ever has been produced by a National Taxpayer Advocate. Because this or any other synopsis could not do justice to the report, we encourage readers to study the full document, available on the web at www.irs.gov/advocate.>