Tip Scales for Business in IRS Disputes, Conservative Group Says

The right-leaning Alliance for IRS Accountability, which is gaining traction as the Trump administration cracks down on federal agencies, wants more legal protections for small and large businesses.

The group started by Charles Flint, a former Breitbart News executive and Republican Senate aide, is pushing in a document outlining its platform for the burden of proof in all US Tax Court and arbitration proceedings to fall on the IRS. The group also wants to require the IRS to do compliance cost projections prior to releasing new rules that could have a large impact on businesses.

These calls come as the IRS is going through a government shutdown, a major shakeup with an exodus of over a quarter of its workers, and the tall task of implementing President Donald Trump’s massive tax law enacted in July. Tax filing season is just months away.

• “Our recommendations restore the presumption of taxpayer rights, enforce accountability, and reestablish the IRS’s role as a service to the American people, not an adversary,” the platform said.
• AIA was vocal in calls to remove Holly Paz, commissioner of the Large Business and International division, who was put administrative leave in July for unspecified conduct against Republicans.
• The platform also is calling to eliminate the IRS’s audit authority for disputes with individual taxpayers involving $10,000 or less and direct all cases involving small businesses with revenue under $1 million to arbitration.