The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has written a report that calls on the IRS to use clearer writing in letters and notices that are more understandable to taxpayers. As the report points out, not only does this request make sense, but is also the law under the Plain Writing Act of 2010. In addition to identifying the existing problems of writings for the IRS being difficult to understand, including not defining terms such as “Tax Lien,” it also included recommendations for creating processes to monitor and check the writings for plain language requirements prior to being sent out, and increasing training for IRS technical writers. The IRS responded that it has put in considerable effort to produce clear writing, and agreed to address three out of four of the recommendations in the report.
See Michael Cohn, IRS Urged to Use Plainer English, Accounting Today, Oct. 14, 2014.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
