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Your Rights as a Taxpayer

When you owe the IRS, it can feel like the IRS makes every rule and you have none on your side. That is not how it works. Federal tax law lists ten rights that belong to every taxpayer, and the law tells the IRS to make sure its employees know those rights and act in accord with them. They are called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and each one is below in plain words.

The ten rights

  1. The Right to Be Informed

    You have the right to know what the IRS expects from you. Its forms, notices, and letters are supposed to explain the rules and procedures clearly. When the IRS makes a decision about your account, you are entitled to a clear explanation of what it decided.

  2. The Right to Quality Service

    You have the right to prompt, courteous, and professional help from the IRS. You are entitled to be spoken to in a way you can understand, and you can ask for a supervisor when the service falls short.

  3. The Right to Pay No More than the Correct Amount of Tax

    You owe the amount the law says you owe, including interest and penalties, and nothing beyond it. You also have the right to have every payment you make applied to your account properly. This is why we check the number before we talk about how to pay it.

  4. The Right to Challenge the IRS’s Position and Be Heard

    You can object when the IRS takes an action or proposes one, and you can send documents that support your side. When you respond on time, the IRS is expected to consider what you sent promptly and fairly, and to answer you if it does not agree.

  5. The Right to Appeal an IRS Decision in an Independent Forum

    You are entitled to a fair and impartial appeal of most IRS decisions, including many penalties, and to a written response about what the appeals office decided. You also generally have the right to take your case to court.

  6. The Right to Finality

    You have the right to know how long you have to challenge an IRS position. You also have the right to know how long the IRS has to audit a tax year or collect a tax debt, and to know when an audit is finished.

  7. The Right to Privacy

    Any IRS inquiry, audit, or enforcement action has to follow the law and be no more intrusive than necessary. The IRS is expected to respect your due process rights, and in some collection cases that includes a hearing before an independent appeals office.

  8. The Right to Confidentiality

    What you give the IRS is not to be disclosed unless you authorize it or the law allows it. You have the right to expect action against anyone who wrongfully uses or discloses your return information, including IRS employees and tax return preparers.

  9. The Right to Retain Representation

    You can choose an authorized representative to deal with the IRS for you. If you cannot afford one, you have the right to seek help from a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic.

  10. The Right to a Fair and Just Tax System

    You have the right to expect the tax system to consider the facts of your situation, including anything that affects what you owe, your ability to pay, or your ability to provide information on time. If you are in financial difficulty, or the IRS has not resolved your problem properly and on time through its normal channels, you have the right to help from the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization inside the IRS.

What these rights do when you owe

These rights do not make a tax debt go away, and we will not tell you they do. They set rules the IRS has to follow while your case is open. You can ask for an explanation, check the number, disagree in writing, and appeal most decisions.

The ninth right matters most when you are worn out, because it means you do not have to do any of that yourself. Heather Coonley, EA handles that work herself. The EA after her name stands for enrolled agent, and it means she is licensed by the IRS with unlimited rights to represent you before all administrative levels of the IRS, which in plain terms covers an audit, collections, or an appeal, all handled inside the IRS rather than in court. For most of our clients, that is the moment the IRS calls and the back-and-forth stop landing on them and start coming to us.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Taxpayer Bill of Rights?

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights is a list of ten rights every taxpayer has when dealing with the IRS. The rights are written into federal tax law, and the IRS explains them in Publication 1, Your Rights as a Taxpayer.

Do I still have these rights if I owe back taxes?

You do. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights applies to all taxpayers in their dealings with the IRS, and that includes people who owe a balance or have returns they have not filed.

What can I do if I think the IRS has not respected my rights?

You can ask to speak with a supervisor about the service you received. If the IRS has not resolved your problem properly and on time through its normal channels, you can ask the Taxpayer Advocate Service for help. A representative can also raise the problem for you.

Talk to us about your letter

If you are holding an IRS letter and are not sure which of these rights applies to you, tell us what you received. We will tell you what it means and what you can do next. The consultation is free, and there is no pressure to hire us when the call ends.