Michael S. Rosen wrote:

- quote -

I'm agreeing with you 100% here.

First however, that third party designee I think does not
extend to after the fact negotiations with IRS, but only
pertains to what's on the return itself. For instance,
return filed last year, and this year client gets a CP 2000
letter.

Even if you don't get a POA from client, you can still
submit information to IRS on a case. The few times I've
done this, I've never been disappointed. I even called IRS
once after maybe 60 days, telling them about the letter I
had submitted, they found it, and after affirming what I
knew that they couldn't discuss the case with me, she said.
wait a minute.....;;;..... I waited....;;;.... Then "Your
client will be hearing from us shortly and will be smiling."
I grinned and said thanks very much!

But I don't think shooting from the hip like that is a good
idea these days. Since Rosetti left, I'm not sure I have a
good idea what's going through their heads these days.

In short, always get a POA, even though you might have that
little box on page 2 checked.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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"Michael S. Rosen" <mike_20878[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Whenever I have sent correspondence to the Service, without
a POA on file, they have ALWAYS responded to the taxpayer.
I have no idea why an agent told you otherwise, and his
response is totally contrary to my experience.

Barry Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP

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I cannot wait for the changes to the Third Party Designee
rules for 2003. It is so frustrating to have an IRS agent
tell me they can't talk to me because the authorization has
expired. Not too long ago I sent a letter instead,
requesting resolution for my client's problem. When no
response was received, I called and was able to get this
much from the agent - typically when there is no POA on file
they will ignore the correspondence. That is just
unbelievable. They could at least contact the taxpayer
directly to confirm the circumstances.

Mike

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