The National Taxpayer Advocate’s Objectives Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2016 contained the Taxpayer Advocate’s eleven areas of focus for 2016.
Statement
Area of Focus #4, The IRS’s Implementation of FATCA Has in Some Cases Imposed Unnecessary Burdens and Failed to Protect the Rights of Affected Taxpayers, states that the following taxpayer rights which are contained in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights have been breached.
1. The right to pay no more than the correct amount of tax.
2. The right to privacy.
3. The right to a fair and just tax system.
The Taxpayer Advocate’s focus for this area for the fiscal year 2016 includes:
1. Update and analyze research and stakeholder concerns regarding the impact and effectiveness of FATCA;
2. Encourage the development of mechanisms, such as the ‘same-country exception’, to mitigate the unintended negative consequences of FATCA while perpetuating its broader goals;
3. Provide recommendations to the IRS and Treasury regarding the policies and procedures that should govern the credits and refunds of amounts withheld under Chapter 3 and Chapter 4;
4. Work toward the development of a FATCA regime that gathers only the information actually needed by the IRS, burdens impacted parties as little as possible, and preserves the rights espoused by the IRS in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, including the right to pay no more than the correct amount of tax and the right to privacy.
The Internal Revenue Code requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to submit two annual reports to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. These are required to be submitted without any prior review or comment from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Secretary of the Treasury, the IRS Oversight Board, any other officer or employee of the Department of the Treasury or the Office of Management and Budget.
