IRS Announces Taxpayer-Friendly “People First Initiative”

***Information and guidance in client updates was up to date at time of publication. During the pandemic, information and guidance has been changing rapidly. If you have any questions about the information contained in a client update, please contact the author(s) or your Miller Johnson attorney.***

On March 25, 2020, the IRS announced its People First Initiative as part of its ongoing response to the COVID-19 crisis.  The initiative is intended to provide taxpayers relief on a variety of issues through July 15, 2020.

The full announcement can be found here and specifies several measures the IRS is implementing to provide relief, such as the temporary suspension of installment agreement payments and offer in compromise payments, the temporary suspension of certain lien and levy collection actions, and the limiting of IRS field, office and correspondence audits.  The announcement also clarifies that while taxpayer advocate services are no longer available in-person, taxpayer advocate services will remain available by telephone.

Additional guidance about the implementation of the People First Initiative is expected to be released soon.  Miller Johnson is actively following these developments and will provide further updates when more information is available.