The Internal Revenue Service plans to hold the second in a series of public meetings next Wednesday to get feedback on its plans to create a “real-time tax system” that would be able to catch incorrectly reported tax return information at the time it is filed.

Doug Shulman

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has outlined a vision that would move the agency away from the traditional “look back” model of compliance, and instead perform substantially more “real time,” or upfront matching of tax returns when they are first filed with the IRS against the information gathered from 1099s and other information returns (see IRS Commissioner Plans Tax Technology Overhaul).

The goal of the initiative, dubbed the Real-Time Tax System, is to improve the tax filing process by reducing burden for taxpayers and increasing overall compliance. Under the system outlined by Shulman, the IRS could match information submitted on a tax return with third-party information at the beginning of return processing and provide the opportunity for taxpayers to fix the tax return if it contains data that does not match IRS records. Currently, the IRS conducts a significant number of compliance activities months after the tax return has been filed and processed. 

At this public meeting, IRS officials will solicit feedback and input from outside stakeholders. This second meeting will feature representatives of large and small businesses, financial institutions, software providers and state revenue commissions.

In the meeting on Dec. 8, 2011, IRS officials heard comments from representatives of consumer groups, tax professionals, state and federal government representatives, and the American Institute of CPAs (see AICPA Backs IRS Plans for Real-Time Tax System).

The second meeting, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Jan 25, will take place at the IRS Headquarters Building Auditorium, 1111 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. The IRS said that those who would like to attend the meeting should e-mail the IRS at CL.NPL.Communications@irs.gov with the contact information for the attendees or call the agency at (202) 622-3359.