IRS Halts Most Unannounced Home Visits

What You Need to Know

The change is a response to security concerns for both agents and taxpayers, the IRS says.
It is also part of a transformation effort underway within the IRS following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
Revenue officers will instead make contact with taxpayers through an appointment letter.

In a major policy change, the Internal Revenue Service is ending the vast majority of unannounced visits to taxpayers by revenue officers, the agency announced Monday.

“Effective immediately, unannounced visits will end except in a few unique circumstances and will be replaced with mailed letters to schedule meetings,” the agency said in a news release.

The move is meant to reduce public confusion and enhance safety for taxpayers and IRS employees, according to the agency.

The release suggests the change is part of a larger transformation effort underway within the IRS, following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 — which gave the agency an $80 billion boost to its 10-year budget — and the creation of a new IRS strategic operating plan in April.

“We are taking a fresh look at how the IRS operates to better serve taxpayers and the nation, and making this change is a common-sense step,” argues IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in the release. “Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees.”

Security Concerns

As noted in the release, the change reverses a decades-long practice by IRS revenue officers, the unarmed agency employees whose duties include visiting households and businesses to help taxpayers resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns.

There have been “increased security concerns in recent years on multiple fronts,” Werfel notes.

“The growth in scam artists bombarding taxpayers has increased confusion about home visits by IRS revenue officers,” Werfel says. “Sometimes scam artists appear at the door posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for not just the taxpayers living there but local law-enforcement.”

New IRS Policies

In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will make contact with taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a follow-up meeting. This will help taxpayers feel more prepared when it is time to meet, according to the IRS.

The IRS says there will still be “extremely limited situations” where unannounced visits will occur.

“These rare instances include service of summonses and subpoenas; and also sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government,” the agency explains. “To put this in perspective, these types of situations typically number less than a few hundred each year — a small fraction compared to the tens of thousands of unannounced visits that typically occurred annually under the old policy.”