The National Taxpayer Advocate and the IRS

Ever wondered if there was any recourse to the often-imperious dictates of the IRS when it comes to your tax refund? Well look no further than Nina Olson, who was appointed to the little-known though very important position of National Taxpayer Advocate in March 2001. Though it was created in the 1970's, the position was largely one with little real power until a congressional overhaul in 1998 made the office independent of the IRS. 

Olson's primary weapon is the annual reports that her office releases each January. They can quickly draw public attention to the often-obscure practices of an agency that remains mysterious to many Americans. Designed to prod the IRS into better service to the public, Congress mandated that the Secretary of the Treasury rather than the IRS commissioner appoint the Advocate. This has led to a number of interesting changes in the way the IRS does business. 

One such change occurred just this past January. In a recent interview on CNN's American Morning, Olson related how her attempts to encourage the agency to stop freezing the tax refunds of certain taxpayers without giving them notice, as well as the reasons why they were being withheld, met with little success. Once she made this public through her annual report however, public outcry from Congress and other quarters forced the agency to comply with her suggestions in short order.
There have been other important changes as well. 

A decade ago, the agency responded to only sixty percent of the calls made to the IRS by taxpayers. Now that number stands at eighty-five percent. This figure, Olson noted, puts them in line with rates of response in the private sector. Olson is one who is no stranger to looking out for taxpayers. Before holding her current post, she was a practicing tax attorney who taught at several law schools.