Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson Plans Her Program

Ms. Olson has set four areas of emphasis for the upcoming fiscal year. Goal one: restrict the ability of tax preparers to disclose tax information--she feels that rules set last year need to be improved in regard to privacy. Goal two: eliminate the 20% down payment on offers in compromise--presumably here, she is trying to keep low-income taxpayers from being "priced out" of OICs and may also cause more disputed accounts to go to litigation. Goal three: clarify and communicate the 1998 directive allowing OICs to consider hardship and public policy considerations. Goal four: Opposition to private debt collection. An unoffical goal five is to loosen the ties between tax preparers and refund anticipation loan makers.

Ms. Olson has been consistent at looking out for the best interest of American taxpayers. Though I do not have the same concern about privatizing tax collections that she has; I think that her overall program is well-prepared.