The National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) has asked the IRS to resume sending reminder notices immediately to non-filers and those with balances due of more than $10,000, Accounting Today reported.

The IRS initiated a pause in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and extended its pause a year later due to its backlog of original and amended tax returns, and other correspondence.

"EAs understood that extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures," NAEA President Cynthia Leachmoore wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. "Yet those times are past. IRS returned its bargaining unit employees to their offices in May 2022 and declared it expected paper return and correspondence inventories would return to normal by the close of 2022. While field collection appears to have ramped up from pandemic lows, the lion's share of collection volume is generated from [the IRS's Automated Collection System], which has essentially stopped issuing collection reminder notices. Further, IRS non-filer communication has dropped precipitously."

Leachmoore noted that in fiscal year 2022, the IRS issued fewer than 200,000 non-filer inquiries, even as the number of known non-filers rose to more than 11.3 million, up from 7.9 million in fiscal year 2021. She wrote that EAs have seen the negative impacts of the suspended notices on their taxpayers, also citing the concerns of other officials.

She quoted National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, who supported the initial Automated Collection System notice suspension during the pandemic, but wrote in a Sept. 7 blog post, “My concern is the longer the notices are delayed, the more that taxpayers may have a false sense that the IRS may have forgotten about their tax balance—or maybe taxpayers fail to understand penalties and interest continue to accrue until final payment.” Three weeks later, Collins wrote, “It is time for the IRS to reinstate issuing notices and provide taxpayers with information on their outstanding balances and provide collection alternatives.”

Leachmoore wrote that her organization is concerned with the impact on future tax compliance.

“EAs are on the front line of compliance, fear a public perception that there are no consequences to failing to file or pay taxes, and are concerned that this system of voluntary compliance is being eroded,” she wrote.