Taxpayer Advocate Service

Anyone ever use the Taxpayer Advocate Service? If yes, what's your experience been with them helping to resolve issues?

My only experience was with a messy set of facts. I had a 5 yr NOL carryback between 1040 years (all 1040X filings) where the wife was listed first on the loss years and the husband was listed first on the carryback years. Same two individuals, though. Took over 20 months to sort out. They had a refund of over $40K.

After a year and three letters, the last of which was over 50 pages including attachments with a detailed description of the situation, I was getting nowhere. Got TPA involved and started to get movement. Still took a few months, but things seemed to stall before getting them involved.
My understanding is that you need to have worked through the normal channels before they will pick up your "case".

I did once. An unenrolled preparer had attempted to help a client by drafting letters for the client to submit. The IRS was limiting the standard deduction of a dependent whose income was earned income from a partnership, treating the income as investment income.

By the time I (EA) received the case, this had been ongoing for some time, perhaps almost a year. I tried resolving it with a POA and I believe two phone calls, but the client continued to receive correspondence. I requested a referral to the TAS. They reviewed the case, one criterion they mentioned specifically was that the time elapsed was sufficient. I gave them our explanation, they scheduled a phone call to discuss progress, and it was solved.

My case was much like Captain's in that the case seemed to have stalled. I would also confirm that the normal channels need to be tried first. If you have a stalled case or IRS personnel do not seem to grasp the issue, I think asking for a referral is very worthwhile.