IRS Has Ended Unannounced Visits to Collect

The IRS is drastically cutting back on its decades-long practice of surprising taxpayers at their homes or businesses because of concerns about the safety of employees and confusion caused by scam artists who also knock on doors.

The duties of the IRS’s 2,300 unarmed revenue officers included making unannounced visits to taxpayers to resolve outstanding account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns. Going forward, the IRS will advise taxpayers through a mailed letter that they are delinquent and advise them on how to set up an appointment with a revenue officer.

The IRS has ended most unannounced visits to taxpayers by revenue officers.

Ending unannounced visits to taxpayers will increase confidence in IRS’s tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees. Fraudsters bombarding taxpayers by mail, by phone, and in person increased confusion about home visits by revenue officers.

What taxpayers can expect:

• In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will instead contact taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a meeting.
• Taxpayers whose cases are assigned to a revenue officer will now be able to schedule face-to-face meetings at a set place and time, allowing taxpayers to gather the necessary information and documents before the meeting to help reach resolution of their cases more quickly.
• The IRS is updating IRS.gov and internal guidance to conform to this policy.

There will still be extremely limited situations where unannounced visits will occur:

These rare instances include service of summonses and subpoenas; and sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government.

Know how the IRS contacts taxpayers

The IRS will never contact taxpayers by text messages or social media to request personal or financial information. Under certain temporary policies, the IRS may correspond with taxpayers by email, but only after discussing such contact directly with the taxpayer and getting consent. For more details on these situations, taxpayers should visit IRS.gov/usingemail.

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