Has an IRS Employee Abused You?

Posted on August 29, 2014

Has an IRS employee abused you in connection with the collection of tax you owe to the IRS?

If yes, you can seek up to $1 million in damages from the IRS. Internal Revenue Code Section 7433 allows for the award of damages up to $1 million for bad conduct by IRS employees in connection with the collection of federal taxes.

The IRS is supposed to take into consideration whether any proposed collection action balances the need for efficient collection of taxes with the taxpayer’s legitimate concerns that any collection action be no more intrusive than necessary. However, because IRS employees have great latitude in exercising their powers, some taxpayers have suffered abuse from IRS employees.

Although Internal Revenue Code Section 7433 allows a taxpayer to seek up to $1 million in damages, in reality very few awards are granted. Since the law was first passed in 1988, Courts have consistently ruled in favor of the government, thereby setting a high bar to obtain any relief under the statute. As a result, it is quite rare that any taxpayer has been able to obtain damages.

Has an IRS employee abused you? Call us, we can help.