The pandemic, which has been going on for more than two years, is erupting again in another wave. Different countries experience it in their own way, but for the United States, the new Omicron strain has become a big problem, including the burden not only on the health care system, but also on the economy as a whole. That is why influential organizations and associations are asking regulators for penalty relief under such conditions.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has joined a broad coalition of tax professionals and others, which, in the wake of COVID-19, has appealed to the IRS and the US Treasury to provide taxpayers with temporary relief from penalties and other compliance actions.
Although the pandemic has created unforeseen and long-lasting problems for the IRS and taxpayers, the IRS has not taken any action to reduce the tax burden, which is likely to continue in the near future. Given the huge amount of unpaid taxes and the organization’s ability to respond to only a small fraction of incoming phone calls, it is clear that US taxpayers do not have the resources to deal with many technically simple issues, let alone more challenging situation.
As a result, taxpayers are unable to contact the IRS and restore justice even when taxes have been improperly charged. Given the above, the IRS is recommended to discontinue the automated compliance actions (which puts surcharges on the pipeline) until the Service can allocate sufficient resources for proper and timely processing of requests.