The IRS, within the last year or so, has begun issuing a final Information Document Request that requests the taxpayer to agree to underlying facts relating to an issue under audit (the Facts IDR).
My general advice to clients is to not respond to the Facts IDR.
The Facts IDR is problematic in that you generally do not have the Agent’s Notice of Proposed Adjustment (NOPA) when you are asked to agree upon the facts. Consequently, you are not yet in a position to know the Agent’s legal theory for proposing an adjustment on the tax issue under consideration. It might not be clear whether the facts being set forth are even relevant to the disputed issue. In addition, a list of agreed-upon facts can be used to write many alternative narratives (not alternative facts!), and different conclusions might be drawn from the same facts.
Recent Comments