Episode 111: The Reliability of IRS FAQs

The IRS communicated that prisoners and decedents were not eligible for economic impact payments through the COVID-19 FAQs on their website.  IRS FAQs are best for communicating their message quickly to the public.  The problem is that there is no formal comment process on these FAQs and the IRS does not consider them to be legal authority that would be usable for a legal argument in a court case.  There were some blog posts in July that criticized IRS FAQs that I revisit in this episode.  I agree with their arguments and make my own statements that unreliable IRS communication erodes the trust that taxpayers place in the IRS.  Tune in to learn more and draw your own conclusions regarding IRS statements to the public.