A Kinder, Gentler Tax Season?

The IRS will reportedly be taking a more lenient stance in midst of the current economic crisis, postponing asset seizures, waiving late fees and negotiating new payment plans for hard-pressed taxpayers who fall into delinquency.

But this is not a tax holiday for cheats. In order to qualify for the softer care of the IRS, taxpayers first must show that they’re making good-faith efforts to pay their back taxes.

“We need to understand the taxpayers' perspective. We need to walk a mile in their shoes,” Doug Shulman, Commissioner of the IRS, said in a press release. However, “This is not a free ride for people who can actually pay their taxes.”

The IRS plans to process 250 million tax returns this filing season, which begins this week. Millions are expected to go delinquent. Last year the IRS pursued enforcement claims against more than 3 million people, seizing cars, homes, wages and bank accounts.

But with 10.3 million people out of work, up 2.7 million from this time last year, the IRS has decided to take a somewhat gentler tack. Its leniency program is open to people who have consistently filed their taxes in the past, but who may have trouble doing so this year because of a layoff or other financial disaster.

“This is not a normal course of events, Ellis Reemer, chief of tax litigation at Baltimore-based DLA Piper law firm, told the Associated Press. “This is an institutional determination that we are in very difficult economic times.”

There's more information here about the IRS leniency program.