The Internal Revenue Service said Friday it would restart issuing its 500 series of balance-due notices to taxpayers later this month after they were paused on May 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the IRS continued to issue most of its notices, the 500 series was temporarily suspended because of a backlog of mail that built up at the IRS while many employees were away from agency facilities due to COVID-19. The IRS came under fire earlier this year for issuing balance due notices with the incorrect dates to taxpayers during the pandemic and agreed to stop sending the notices until it caught up with its backlog of unopened mail (see story).
Richard A. Royer has served as the chief executive officer of Primaris, a vendor of healthcare quality business solutions, since 2001. He has extensive administrative healthcare experience and is actively involved in several statewide healthcare initiatives.
Peyton Burch, CPA, CITP, is a senior channel executive with Intacct. He is a nationally recognized expert in managing high-performing value added reseller (VAR) organizations and building high impact relationships with both software publishers and customers. He joined Intacct in October of 2010 and is engaged in Channel Partner sales and enablement efforts. Mr. Burch is a sought-after speaker at AICPA and accounting industry conferences. His firm was awarded Accounting Technology’s Pacesetter designation for seven consecutive years. Mr. Burch is actively involved in the AICPA and the Information Technology Alliance (ITA). Mr. Burch began his career in 1986 as a Senior Consultant with Arthur Andersen & Co.’s Management Information Consulting Division and went on to lead several prestigious VAR businesses. As President of Houston-based Burch Consultants, he built the firm into a nationally recognized industry leader. As part of the Intacct team, Mr. Burch leverages his strong ties to the CPA and reseller communities to help evolve the Intacct VAR program. Previously, he served as Director of Partner Programs at Deltek.Mr. Burch obtained a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Professional Accounting) from the University of Texas at Austin. He became a Certified Public Accountant in 1989. Mr. Burch has served on the AICPA Technology Conference Committee for the past six years and as Chairman of the 2008 - 2011 Conferences. He currently leads the ITA Membership Committee and serves on the AICPA CITP Credential Committee. In 2010, he was recognized by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting.
The IRS said Friday that it has now caught up enough with its mail backlog to account for payments that are mailed on a timely basis. Some taxpayers will start seeing updated 500 series notices with current issuance and payment dates in late October or early November.
The 500 series of balance due notices includes three different types of notices that warn taxpayers about different stages of nonpayment: the CP501, the CP503 and the CP504.
The CP501 notice tells taxpayers they still have a balance due and what their options are, while the CP503 lets them know the IRS hasn’t heard from them yet and they may be subject to a tax lien if they don’t pay their taxes. The CP504 alerts taxpayers they need to pay their balances immediately or face the possibility of a levy of their state income tax refunds. The 500 series of notices are typically sent to taxpayers if they don’t respond to or pay their initial notice and demand on the CP14 letter.
Despite the resumption of the notices, the IRS is still in the process of catching up on millions of pieces of unopened mail, prompting a letter this week from Democrats on the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee asking if the IRS will be ready in time for next tax season (see story). They also asked the IRS this week about why it was sending out notices revoking the tax-exempt status of over 30,000 nonprofits despite an extension it was supposed to have granted them for filing the Form 990 during the pandemic while it’s in the midst of processing the backlog of unopened correspondence. Earlier this month, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig told another House oversight subcommittee that the IRS was still processing 5.3 unopened million pieces of mail, including 2.5 million paper tax returns.
The IRS is encouraging taxpayers who can’t pay to consider some of the available payment options while penalties and interest continue to accrue.
The IRS noted that taxpayers who were affected by the pandemic or other circumstances may qualify for relief from penalties due to reasonable cause if they’ve made an effort to comply with the requirements of the law, but couldn’t meet their tax obligations, due to facts and circumstances beyond their control. Taxpayers should call the toll-free number listed on their notice to ask for penalty relief due to reasonable cause if they believe they qualify and have the supporting documentation to prove it. More information on reasonable cause relief can be found on a page at IRS.gov. Payment options and extra information can also be found on another page of IRS.gov.
