There’s a new incentive to file a tax return this year: an Internal Revenue Service agent may be making a house call if you don’t.
The IRS is increasing efforts to reach high-income individuals who have failed to file at least one or more tax returns in recent years as a last-ditch attempt to encourage compliance, the agency said on Wednesday. This would be the final step before the agency would pursue more severe procedures, including civil or criminal action against that individual, the IRS said.
The agency will send several dozens agents to make at least 800 face-to-face visits in February and March of this year, Hank Kea, who directs the IRS field collections operations, said Thursday. The IRS will be identifying other non-compliant individuals throughout the year and adding cases as they find them, he said.
“Enforcement truly is our last resort,” Kea said. “Don’t delay filing or worse yet avoid filing all together.”
The IRS is concentrating efforts on individuals who received at least $100,000 in income during a year and didn’t file tax returns. The agency knows the incomes of many taxpayers from third-party reporting from employers or financial institutions, even if they don’t file a return.
The agency will focus on the most egregious cases first, Kea said, such as individuals contacted by the agency multiple times via mail with no response.
“The IRS is committed to fairness in the tax system, and we want to remind people across all income categories that they need to file their taxes,” Paul Mamo, the IRS’s director of collection operations, said in a statement. “We want to ensure taxpayers know their options to get right with their taxes and avoid bigger issues later.”
Not A Scam
The goal of these visits is to educate taxpayers about their filing requirements and try to bring them into compliance without taking stronger enforcement actions against the individual, Mamo said.
The agency will have several precautions in place to assure taxpayers that a home visit isn’t a scam. The IRS employee will provide two forms of official credentials, including a serial number and a photo ID. IRS employees will also not make threats nor demand an unusual form of payment, such as a gift card.