The United States House of Representatives has recently passed a highway funding bill that includes a provision that would revive the use of private debt collectors by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, has expressed concerns about the new provisions in the highway bill. Some critics of the provision are worried that low-income taxpayers might be subjected to strong-arm tactics by collection agencies. “National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, a longtime opponent of private tax debt collection, has estimated nearly 80 percent of the cases handled by private collection agencies involve low-income taxpayers.” There are also concerns that scammers claiming to work for the IRS might use some of the confusion about private collection agencies to take advantage of vulnerable people.
See Michael Cohn, Highway Bill Would Revive Private Collection of Tax Debts, Accounting Today, November 5, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
