Issues that TAS will not Accept

IRM 13.1.7.4, Exceptions to Taxpayer Advocate Service Criteria, includes information about cases TAS will no longer accept. On May 13, 2022, TAS changed its case acceptance criteria and will no longer accept referrals for assistance regarding the following:

Issue	Exclusion Period
Processing of Mailed Paper Original Returns TAS will not accept any cases where the primary issue is processing a 2021 original return. TAS will still accept economic burden cases (Criteria 1 - 4) and Best Interest of the Taxpayer (Criteria 8) for tax year 2020 and prior year original returns filed before 6/1/2021 based on either the IRS received date on IDRS or the date the taxpayer claims to have filed for returns not yet showing as received on IDRS. Employees can use IDRS Command Code TRDBV, Element/Data Lines 15 and 16 to determine if a return was filed on Paper. See Exhibit 2.3.73-3, COMMAND CODE TRDBV.	1/1/2022 to 10/15/2022
Processing of Mailed Paper Amended Returns TAS will not accept any cases where the primary issue is processing an amended tax year 2021 return. TAS will still accept economic burden cases (Criteria 1 - 4) and Best Interest of the Taxpayer (Criteria 8) for tax year 2020 and prior year amended returns filed before 6/1/2021 based on either the IRS received date on IDRS or the date the taxpayer claims to have filed for returns not yet showing as received on IDRS. Employees can use IDRS Command Code TRDBV, Element/Data Lines 15 and 16 to determine if a return was filed on Paper. See Exhibit 2.3.73-3, COMMAND CODE TRDBV.	1/1/2021 to 10/15/2022
Returns held in Submission Processing's Unpostables or ERS Rejects Units; including returns held for issues regarding the claimed Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit for Individuals: TAS will not accept a case where the return is in ERS Status 900 (overflow), 100 (initial screening stage), 281-284 (systemic pilot program non-workable suspense), or 481-484 (systemic pilot program, workable suspense). TAS will not accept any systemic burden cases (Criteria 5 -7) where the sole issue is the return is assigned to Unpostables or ERS Rejects Units.	5/18/2022 to 10/15/2022

Do not refer cases to TAS involving a Taxpayer Protection Program (TPP) Unpostable 126 Reason Code 0 that has been closed. In these instances, the taxpayer has verified identity either via the TPP phone line or the Identity Verification Service website. Once the unpostable is closed and the taxpayers have requested a direct deposit refund, most taxpayers will receive their refund within two weeks. If the unpostable is closed and the taxpayers requested a paper check, most taxpayers will receive their refund within four weeks. There is nothing TAS can do to accelerate issuance of the refund.

See the TAS Criteria Determinator tool for assistance in determining if a taxpayer's issue meets TAS case acceptance criteria.

What TAS Cannot Do

TAS cannot obtain a refund for a taxpayer within 24 hours. TAS follows the same manual refund procedures as all other IRS employees contained in IRM 21.4.4, Manual Refunds. IRS should not tell taxpayers or transfer taxpayers to TAS with an expectation that TAS can get their refund any sooner than normal manual refund processing timeframes.

Per IRM 21.4.6.5.11.1, Offset Bypass Refund, if a TOP debt exists, the IRS has no authority to issue an OBR. TAS cannot bypass this either so do not send the taxpayer to TAS.

Communication with Taxpayers

Last year TAS was not able to meet its normal timeframes to contact taxpayers due to reduced IRS staffing and employees being evacuated from the workspace because of COVID-19. Due to ongoing challenges faced by everyone Servicewide, TAS continues to be in the same position again this year. When advising taxpayers of the date they will be contacted by TAS, let them know that it could take up to four weeks for them to hear from their Case Advocate because of high volumes of TAS referrals. Please share with taxpayers that TAS employees are diligently working to serve taxpayers, but we are experiencing delays and interruptions in working cases due to the widespread impact on IRS operations from COVID-19. Once a request for assistance (AMS e-911) meeting TAS case acceptance criteria has been sent to TAS additional e-911s should not be sent to TAS until the four-week time period from the original e-911 has passed.

After a case has been assigned, the Case Advocate will discuss with the taxpayer what actions will be performed to resolve their issue. Due to the COVID-19 impact on IRS operations the time needed to resolve a taxpayer's issue may be greater than normal. Therefore, do not provide the taxpayer with an estimated timeframe for resolution before sending the referral to TAS.

Before sending a taxpayer's inquiry to TAS, the IRS needs to verify a correct address for the taxpayer and include it on the e-911; otherwise TAS is unable to correspond with the taxpayer. The e-911 systemically populates with the IDRS address, but the assistor can erase that address and input the correct address. Please be sure the address and contact information on the e-911 is current before sending the referral to TAS.