As readers of my Newsletter and Blog know, dealing with the IRS daily means I uncover unreasonable policies and bizarre agents at the IRS on a regular basis (and don’t even get me started on the policies and personnel of the California Tax agencies, who make the IRS seem highly efficient and professional). When I encounter absurdities at the IRS, I liken the IRS agent delivering the absurd policy or demand to a “Tax Troll”. Because only trolls would do the things the IRS sometimes does. Sadly, I don’t think the IRS recognizes that it’s run and staffed by trolls. So, herewith, a new, regular feature in which I report on the Tax Trolls from the trenches of my work as a tax attorney.
IRS Agent Says Not to Use United States Postal System
I was talking with an IRS collection officer about a client. She asked whether the client had sent the check we talked about the previous week. “I’m pretty sure he has,” I offered. “Well, I sure haven’t seen it yet.” She then asked me to instruct my client to not use the postal service, but to use UPS or FedEx instead. At her office, the USPS leaves mail in a box outside the front door; UPS and FedEx take the extra step of walking inside the unlocked front door and leaving the mail on a table. “So don’t use the U.S. Mail!”
It’s a strange world we live in when one branch of the federal government says to not use another branch of the federal government. But I guess the tax trolls know best…
April 12, 2021