January 10,2006

Grassley Expresses Concern on Taxpayer Rights in IRS Frozen Refunds Cases

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Fr: Jill Gerber for Chairman Grassley, 202/224-6522
Re: National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2005 Annual Report to Congress
Da: Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, with Senate jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Service, today made the following comment on the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2005 Annual Report to Congress.

“The taxpayer advocate’s report gives the Finance Committee thoughtful and critical analysis on a lot of different issues, especially ways to provide better services for taxpayers and improved protection of taxpayer rights. I’m especially troubled by the issues the taxpayer advocate raises about the IRS criminal investigation division’s freezing of refunds. Refunds have been a source of abuse recently but we need to make sure taxpayers have proper due process when the IRS decides to freeze a refund.”