WASHINGTON - Most taxpayers do not receive timely responses to their written

inquiries to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to a new report from the

Treasury Inspector General from Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The IRS received 20 million letters, forms, and other written correspondence from

taxpayers in 2010. TIGTA reviewed three samples of taxpayer correspondence to

determine whether the IRS is meeting its self-imposed requirements to respond to a

taxpayer within 30 days or provide an update on the status of the response. Testing

included sampling cases from three IRS functions - the Accounts Management function, the

Automated Underreporter Program, and the Field Assistance Office.

While most final IRS responses to taxpayer correspondence are accurate, interim letters

do not provide taxpayers with any information specific to their accounts and the content

is not clear regarding what taxpayers need to do, TIGTA found.

If correspondence is not processed timely and systems are not updated to reflect a

response by the designated time, the IRS may issue the next collection notice to the

taxpayer automatically or move an account to the next step of the assessment or

collection process, the report found.

"Inadequate and untimely responses to taxpayer correspondence adversely affect

taxpayers and tax administration," said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for

Tax Administration.

TIGTA made four recommendations to the IRS, including that it clarify instructions so

employees understand when a case requires a written response, should be placed in

suspense, or closed, and when correspondence should be linked to prior cases.

Additionally, TIGTA recommended that the IRS complete its ongoing study of interim

letters to ensure they are strategically timed and provide taxpayers with an accurate status

and time period for case resolution.

The IRS said it would review its instructions for processing correspondence and complete

its study of interim responses.