Private collection agencies hired by the Internal Revenue Service to collect delinquent taxes are disproportionately chasing bills owed by low-income taxpayers, according to the The report by Advocate Nina E. Olson said her office was "concerned that PCAs will pressure taxpayers who cannot afford to pay into doing so." That concern was voiced at a time when there have been news stories alleging one of the three PCAs is using high-pressure tactics in its telephone calls.
When the IRS collects unpaid taxes, it can perform a financial analysis of ability to pay and does not collect from taxpayers where its financial analysis shows doing so would impose a financial hardship.
PCAs, however, are not authorized to perform the analysis. The report says because the agencies are paid a percentage of what they collect, they have an incentive to pressure even low-income taxpayers that the IRS might decide to exlude.
The law governing the PCA program says the IRS can assign cases it is not working and are its "potentially collectible inventory" category. However, that term is not defined by the law. The Advocate has recommended the IRS exclude recipients of Social Security retirement benefits with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
According to the Advocate's report, the IRS allowed TAS personnel to listen to a sample of calls during a 2006 through 2009 version of the program. While it had originally agreed to do the same this year, it recently informed the TAS its personnel will not be allowed to monitor calls in order to observe tactics.
The IRS has also declined to require PCA employees working cases to watch a training video by the National Taxpayer Advocate on protecting taxpayer rights.
The TAS expects to take additional steps to ensure protection of taxpayer rights and to continue to advocate excluding low-income Social Security recipients.
