The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Eric Glenn/Shutterstock.com
Former IRS Executive Named Permanent National Taxpayer Advocate
The appointment comes at the height of the busy tax filing season.
On Thursday, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced that Erin Collins will lead the office that is the “voice” for taxpayers. Collins, who spent the last two decades as an executive at accounting giant KPMG, previously served as an attorney in the IRS chief counsel’s office.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS, helps the approximately 135 million individual and 11 million business taxpayers resolve filing problems. After Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson retired over the summer, Bridget Roberts, the deputy national taxpayer advocate, took over in an acting capacity. The permanent appointment of Collins comes during the tax agency’s busiest time of the year as Americans must file their annual returns by April 15.
“I look forward to working with Erin to improve the IRS for the benefit of all Americans and know that she will serve our nation with distinction,” said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a statement. “Our [Taxpayer Advocate Service] employees are exemplary, and it’s clear they care deeply and passionately about serving taxpayers and our country. We are extremely thankful to Bridget Roberts for continuing the important work of the [Taxpayer Advocate Service] organization during this period.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made similar remarks. “She has a wealth of experience representing a broad range of taxpayers before the IRS,” said Mnuchin. “Erin is the ideal candidate to help the IRS modernize and improve service for American families and businesses.”
Collins’ tax career in the public and private sectors spans 36 years. From 1984 to 1999 she was an attorney for the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel. Then from 1999 to 2019 she was the managing director of professional service firm KPMG’s Tax Controversy Services practice for the Western region.
In her new role, Collins will lead the office that advises the commissioner on issues affecting taxpayers, recommends legislative changes to Congress and works to modernize the agency’s systems. In its $4.8 trillion budget request for fiscal 2021, the Trump administration said it seeks to continue to “modernize the taxpayer experience” by improving the IRS’s electronic filing systems and enhancing taxpayers’ ability to reach tax officials electronically.
Rettig has acknowledged that IRS is grappling with resource constraints, but also expressed confidence in the agency’s ability to handle the tax-filing season.
Image via Eric Glenn/Shutterstock.com.