What to Know if IRS Revenue Officers Want to Meet With You

You know you owe the IRS money, and the IRS is making sure you don’t forget that fact with all the tax collection notices they’re sending your way. You should take all of these seriously and do your best to figure out how to make arrangements to pay your tax debt. However, two key notices to look for are IRS Letter 725-B and Form 9297.

If you get these in the mail, it means the IRS has assigned your case to an actual person (a revenue officer), and this person wants to meet with you. The IRS doesn’t typically assign revenue officers to cases unless there are complex tax issues and/or a lot of money owed. Put another way, it means the IRS is getting serious about trying to collect unpaid taxes from you. If you’ve been ignoring the IRS in the past, you’re not likely to continue getting away with it.

If you find out that an IRS revenue officer wants to meet with you, 20/20 Tax Resolution can help. We have years of experience helping taxpayers like you work with the IRS and its revenue officers to resolve unpaid tax issues. Read on to learn more about revenue officers and what you can expect when being asked to meet with them.

Key Takeaways

• Revenue officer – a civilian IRS employee primarily tasked with collecting unpaid taxes.
• Revenue officer meetings – allow the revenue officer to learn more about the taxpayer’s financials to negotiate a resolution or to decide on collection actions such as tax liens and levies.
• IRS Letter 725-B – alerts taxpayers that a revenue officer wants to meet with them.
• Form 9297 – requests additional documentation from the taxpayer.
• Why – revenue officers are normally assigned to cases involving complex tax issues and/or large unpaid tax balances.

What Is an IRS Revenue Officer?

A revenue officer is a civilian employee of the IRS primarily tasked with collecting unpaid taxes. This includes discussing unfiled tax returns and interacting directly with taxpayers to explain their rights, legal duties, options, and consequences for not paying their unpaid taxes.

When it comes to IRS employees who collect unpaid taxes, revenue officers are among the most highly paid and highly skilled. The IRS usually only assigns cases to revenue officers that involve complex tax issues and/or large unpaid balances. The role of an IRS revenue officer is very different from that of revenue agents, special agents, and the automated collection system.

Revenue Agents

These are also IRS civilian employees, but instead of working on tax collection, revenue agents focus on audits. This means they compare tax returns with outside information to confirm that taxpayers have properly reported their tax status and other financial information to the IRS. A good way to recall the difference between revenue agents and officers is to remember that the words, “agents” and “audits” both start with the letter “A.”

Criminal Investigation Special Agents

As their name implies, they are IRS employees who focus on tax crimes. These are full-fledged federal law enforcement officers. Therefore, they’re not civilians and they’re usually armed. Criminal investigation special agents do not ask for payment for unpaid taxes, but can make unannounced phone calls and visits to taxpayers.

The Automated Collection System (ACS)

The ACS is a call center within the IRS tasked with sending out tax collection notices to taxpayers and answering phone calls from taxpayers who have questions when they receive these notices. The ACS is usually used by the IRS early in the tax collection process and with smaller tax debts. ACS agents are usually less skilled and knowledgeable about tax collection issues than revenue officers.

How You Got to the Point of Meeting an IRS Revenue Officer

You’re probably in this situation because you didn’t properly respond to one or more notices sent for unpaid taxes, such as:

• CP14
• CP501
• CP503
• LT16

Whether you ignored these notices or never got them, the IRS believes that it needs to escalate your tax case. But a lack of sufficient response usually isn’t enough on its own to result in the IRS assigning a revenue officer to your case. Most likely, there are other factors at play, such as a significant unpaid tax balance and/or complex tax issues (like being behind on payroll taxes).

When you first learn about the IRS wanting you to meet with a revenue officer, you’ll most likely get two letters or forms in the mail: IRS Letter 725-B and Form 9297.

IRS Letter 725-B and Form 9297

IRS Letter 725-B informs you that the IRS has scheduled a meeting for you with a revenue officer to discuss your unpaid tax balance and/or unfiled tax returns. This letter provides a date and time for the meeting, with the meeting taking place in a specific place. This is usually an IRS office, your business location, or over the phone. The revenue officer’s contact information will also be provided in this letter.

IRS Form 9297, Summary of Taxpayer Contact, outlines information and documents the IRS wants you to send to the IRS revenue officer assigned to your case. If you don’t provide this requested information, the IRS could issue a formal summons to obtain the documents directly from the institution that created them, such as a bank.

Preparing to Meet an IRS Revenue Officer

After you receive Letter 725-B and Form 9297 in the mail, you want to contact the revenue officer to confirm the meeting or reschedule it, whether it be for a different time or location. You’ll also want to start gathering the documents and information listed in Form 9297. And if you have any questions or concerns about your tax case, now would be a good time to contact a tax resolution professional if you haven’t already done so.

What to Expect in a Revenue Officer Meeting

The extent of the meeting depends on your unique tax situation and the issues that need to be resolved. If you’re a business with unpaid payroll or other business-related taxes and unfiled tax returns, you can expect the meeting to be longer and more in-depth than if you’re an individual with no unfiled tax returns and limited assets.

The goal of the meeting is for the revenue officer to get a clearer picture of your financial situation. This includes learning about your sources of income, assets, and other financial liabilities. After they better understand what they’re working with, they can discuss what options are available to you to settle your tax debt, such as with a payment plan.

Revenue officers are just trying to collect taxes, not harass you or make your life miserable. At the same time, don’t expect them to advocate on your behalf or do you any favors, either. If you’re not willing to set up payments or if you have a history of non-compliance, the revenue officer may use the details gathered during the meeting to determine how to collect the taxes – for instance, if they discover that you have a lot of assets, they may recommend seizing your personal or business assets.

This is why it’s important to consider consulting with a tax professional before meeting with an IRS revenue officer.

IRS Revenue Officer FAQs

What is an IRS revenue officer?

A revenue officer is a civilian IRS employee who works directly with taxpayers to resolve unpaid tax issues. Revenue officers explain to taxpayers what their options and rights are, in addition to outlining what could happen if the tax debt continues to go unpaid.

Can I refuse to meet the revenue officer or ignore Letter 725-B?

If you ignore Letter 725-B or otherwise refuse to meet with the revenue officer, the IRS won’t just go away and leave you alone. Instead, the IRS will take one or more steps to collect the taxes you owe or tax returns you haven’t filed. These actions may include:

• Filing a substitute for return (SFR)
• Filing a Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL)
• Issuing a levy
• Garnishing your wages
• Freezing the funds in your bank account
• Seizing your assets
• Effectively forcing your business to shutdown through asset seizure

In addition to taking the above actions, the IRS may still want to meet with you and can choose to compel you to appear by obtaining a court order.

Will a revenue officer show up unannounced?

They can, but it will be a very rare occurrence. The IRS announced that, outside of limited situations, they were going to stop having IRS revenue officers show up unannounced at taxpayers’ homes and businesses. If a revenue officer were to show up by surprise, it would be because they’re serving you with a summons and/or subpoena, or they’ve arrived to seize property where there’s a risk that the property could be moved in a way such that the government can no longer reach it.

Can I avoid meeting the revenue officer by hiring a tax professional?

Hiring a tax pro won’t normally eliminate your obligation to meet with the revenue officer. However, you have the legal right to have someone represent you during the meeting – this is highly recommended.

That said, in many cases, this meeting is simply a phone call between you and the revenue officer, during which they ask questions to better understand your financial situation and work with you on paying what you owe. Unless you’ve received a summons or the officer is making a “field visit” to inspect assets, hiring a tax professional typically allows you to avoid having to meet or speak with the revenue officer directly.

Remember, the goal of a revenue officer is to collect unpaid taxes as efficiently as possible. They understand that working with you is usually far more effective than working against you by taking away your home or vehicle. Revenue officers and the IRS understand that it’s harder for you to earn money to satisfy your tax debt if you can’t drive to work or have no place to live.

Can the IRS take my property during the IRS revenue officer meeting?

While it’s true that the IRS has the authority to seize property to satisfy an unpaid tax debt, it’s important to understand that revenue officers themselves don’t make that decision unilaterally. Seizures are rare and typically only pursued in extreme cases, often after multiple notices and warnings have been sent. There are formal steps and internal policies that must be followed before the government can move forward with a property seizure.

Getting Help From a Tax Professional

It’s recommended that you contact a tax professional, such as one from 20/20 Tax Resolution, as soon as you get Form 9297 or Letter 725-B in the mail. Most likely, you have a large unpaid tax balance and/or a complicated tax situation, so it’s probably worth getting help from someone with experience working with revenue officers.

Our tax pros can explain the situation, protect your legal rights, and negotiate on your behalf to obtain the best financial resolution. We offer free consultations, which you can schedule by contacting us.