IRS taxpayer compliance initiatives can be leveraged off efforts of CPAs, AICPA tells IRS oversight board.

The Internal Revenue Service can use the efforts of CPAs and other tax practitioners as a springboard to leverage IRS initiatives to improve taxpayer compliance, Tom Purcell, chair of the AICPA's Tax Executive Committee, told the IRS Oversight Board recently.

"We view pro bono activities by tax practitioners as one of the best opportunities for the Service to leverage its resources and, at the same time, foster an increase in tax compliance," he said. Examples of the types of pro bono services that CPAs regularly perform include volunteering at IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance [The CPA Letter, Feb.] and "Fax Counseling for the Elderly sites, at community and academic-based low-income tax clinics, as well as providing free seminars to local associations about tax, accounting and finance topics, he explained.

Currently, Purcell said, the AICPA and IRS are discussing a pilot program to use CPA volunteers to augment IRS employee volunteers at disaster relief sites so other IRS employees can continue working on examination and collection cases. The IRS also has asked CPAs to conduct small business tax workshops that previously have been conducted by IRS staff as a way to free up the time of IRS employees.