Confruntational Prof Org

[erchess]

Can anyone name for me a Professional Organization that seeks at the highest level to tell the IRS and the rest of the Federal Government that our tax system is broken and the IRS is dysfunctional to the point that significant numbers of employees lack the tax knowledge to do their jobs correctly and/or are recklessly and negligently abusive of taxpayers' rights?

[ChEAr$]

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Can anyone name for me a Professional Organization that seeks at the highest level to tell the IRS and the rest of the Federal Government that our tax system is broken and the IRS is dysfunctional to the point that significant numbers of employees lack the tax knowledge to do their jobs correctly and/or are recklessly and negligently abusive of taxpayers' rights?

"Ours not to reason why, ours but to do or die."

Well, not completely.

If you're trying to implicate NAEA you failed. It is not NAEA's job, or anybody's, to
complain about what congress does/did/should have done/should not have done to the IRS.
They can't do anything about it except lobby to their boss, US Treasury.

However NAEA does have excellent representation at national level and when EA members bring systemic problems to their attention, the word is passed. Last August I had the pleasure of hearing Nina Olsen who is just one of the IRS people at national level who is on our side.

[erchess]

not intending to pick on any one org

As far as I can see they all cater more than I think they should to an organization that would be our opponent even if many of its people were not too ignorant of tax law to do their jobs and or abusive of taxpayer rights.

For whatever it's worth if my point were limited to only one organization or even two I would keep discussion of it in house.

[Snaggletooth]

Why?

Erchess, you say if you found such a group you would keep all discussions "in house."

Why? Would not the entire existence of such an organization be high profile, and if not, how could they be effective?

Vociferously, the organization you are looking for is the National Taxpayer's Union and Foundation. However, they've been around for a long time and you can judge for yourself how well they meet your criteria.

[erchess]

Perhaps I was unclear

I was responding to Harlan who seemed to think that I was criticizing only or primarily one organization. I meant to say that if I intended to criticize only or or two organizations I would do so in house. My original point was that as far as I can see being liked by the IRS is high on the agenda of all professional organizations for tax professionals.

I guess a lot depends on how you view the taxing agencies. I feel that at least a third off taxing agency employees I have dealt with have been either ignorant of the laws they were trying to enforce or intentionally abusive of my clients or both. Since I believe that this situation could only exist with the knowledge and approval of the top people in the Agencies, getting along with those agencies is not in my view an admirable trait for one of our Professional Organizations.

Put it this way - if you are charged with a crime do you want a criminal defense attorney who has a good working relationship with the prosecutor's office? I would want one the prosecutor's office loathes. Likewise I don't want clients who would ask the IRS to recommend a tax professional.

Regarding the NTU and NTUF they seem to be inviting anyone as opposed to only Tax Professionals to join and their beef seems to be at least as much with Congress as with the IRS. While there certainly are tax laws I disagree with I am careful not to criticize the IRS when it acts within the limits of the law whether I like the law or not.