NEW YORK – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that taxpayers who receive certain notices requiring them to submit information to the IRS now have the option of submitting their documents online through the agency’s page.
This new, secure method will allow taxpayers or their representatives to electronically upload documents to the agency instead of going through the mail-in process, helping to reduce the time and effort required to resolve tax issues.
Initially, the online reconciliation feature will be available to taxpayers who receive one of nine notices from the IRS, which affects more than 500,000 taxpayers each year.
The IRS typically sends these notices to individuals filing individually and claiming various tax benefits, such as the earned income tax credit for low- and middle-income workers, the child tax credit for families with charge, the income tax credit for premiums for those who obtain health coverage through the health insurance marketplace and service members who claim tax benefits in combat zones.
Taxpayers who receive these notices can securely respond to the IRS online, whether or not they have an IRS online account.
“This capability is another step forward for the IRS to help taxpayers and improve service,” said Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell. “This provides immediate benefits to taxpayers, who have near-instant confirmation that the IRS has received documents. In turn, this will dramatically speed up issue resolution by eliminating a time-consuming process step. users can resolve their issues much faster, including getting refunds faster.”
The IRS has created the tool to upload documents
IRS IT department specialists developed a prototype for this service in 2021. Since then, the IRS has tested this device on a limited number of audit-related notices, and 38% of responses to those notices used the agency’s secure electronic communications instead of traditional communications. to post.
How it works
The wording of the notice advises the taxpayer to “submit your documents using the document upload tool within 30 days from the date of the notice.” This includes the link and the unique access code.
- The taxpayer can open the link in any browser and then enter their unique code, first and last name, social security number, personal tax identification number or employer identification number.
- The taxpayer can open the link in any browser, then enter their unique code and upload documents, photos or digital copies of documents (maximum 15MB per file, up to 120 files).
- The taxpayer receives confirmation that the IRS has received their documents and the IRS employee assigned to the file can manage the documents transmitted.
Which ads are eligible?
Taxpayers who receive one of the following notices with the link and access code can choose to download their documents.
Planned future expansion
The IRS plans to expand this capacity to cover dozens of additional notices. Additionally, the IRS will offer digital correspondence for a variety of additional taxpayer interactions. During live interactions, such as telephone calls with taxpayers, IRS staff may provide access to download documents by providing the link and access code.
Everyone wins with secure access digital mailing
For taxpayers and tax practitioners working with the IRS, this new functionality reduces the correspondence burden, ensures tax compliance and improves the customer experience. For IRS employees, this reduces paper correspondence, decreases processing time, and speeds case resolution.
For more information, see Information Sheet 2023-05, IRS Expands Secure Digital Correspondence for Taxpayers on IRS.gov.
According to the IRS, 20% of applicants eligible for this tax credit do not apply for it.