Your Rights as a Taxpayer: #1- The Right to be Informed

The Right to Be Informed

Every year, the IRS updates its tax publications and one of the most important (Publication 1) concerns your/our rights as a taxpayer. Known as the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights"- these rights are only worthwhile if you know what they are and how to exercise them.

With the Right to be Informed, the IRS is required to inform you of what you need to do to comply with the laws. You can exercise this right whenever you are asked to provide information to the IRS. You are also entitled to receive clear explanations of the laws (good luck!) and IRS procedures in all tax forms, instructions, publications, notices, and correspondence.

In addition, we as taxpayers have the right to be informed of any and all IRS decisions about our tax accounts and to receive clear explanations of the outcomes. And as the other rights we have demonstrate, we have many more rights should we not agree with an IRS decision.

I will be covering the full extent of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights over the course of several short articles.