INSIDE COMPLIANCE

The IRS suspended its Automatic Substitute for Return (ASFR) Program for lack of resources, Tax Analysts  and others report.  The ASFR program has long provided an avenue for the IRS to assess taxes on delinquent filers after requests to file returns were ignored by having its computer system automatically calculate the tax due based on Forms 1099 and other information reports that had been filed with the IRS.  The IRS could then assess the taxes and attempt to collect based on these substitute returns.  However, since deductions were ignored, the tax amounts tended to be inflated, sometimes incredibly so, and significant IRS time was required to respond to contested assessments and collection efforts that were sometimes highly unrealistic.