Taxpayer Advocate Office

The Revenue Reform Act of 1998 created the Taxpayer Advocate Office which, unlike its predecessors, seems to be reasonably independent from IRS' line management. Among other things, it has the authority to override decisions made by collection personnel. Traditionally, however, it does so only in hardship cases. You should expect, therefore, that you will have to demonstrate evidence of financial hardship if you expect to get relief through this avenue, or demonstrate some sort of procedural misconduct on the part of the IRS employee. In some cases this office will get involved if the issues you have cannot be resolved because the solution falls between several deparments of the IRS.