NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE “2024 PURPLE BOOK”:

The 2024 Purple Book presents a concise summary of 66 legislative recommendations that the National Taxpayer Advocate believes will strengthen taxpayer rights and improve tax administration. Most of the recommendations have been made in detail in prior reports, but others are presented in this book for the first time. The Advocate believes that most of the recommendations presented in this volume are non-controversial, common-sense reforms that the tax-writing committees, other committees, and other members of Congress may find useful.

We highlight the following legislative recommendations for particular attention, in no specific order:

• Require the IRS to Timely Process Claims for Credit or Refund (Recommendation #2).
• Authorize the IRS to Establish Minimum Competency Standards for Federal Tax Return Preparers and Revoke the Identification Numbers of Sanctioned Preparers (Recommendation #4).
• Require That Math Error Notices Describe the Reason(s) for the Adjustment With Specificity, Inform Taxpayers They May Request Abatement Within 60 Days, and Be Mailed by Certified or Registered Mail (Recommendation #8).
• Provide That Assessable Penalties Are Subject to Deficiency Procedures (Recommendation #13).
• Extend the Reasonable Cause Defense for the Failure-to-File Penalty to Taxpayers Who Rely on Return Preparers to E-File Their Returns (Recommendation #31).
• Clarify That Supervisory Approval Is Required Under IRC § 6751(b) Before Proposing Penalties (Recommendation #33).
• Expand the U.S. Tax Court’s Jurisdiction to Hear Refund Cases (Recommendation #43).
• Promote Consistency With the Supreme Court’s Boechler Decision by Making the Time Limits for Bringing All Tax Litigation Subject to Equitable Judicial Doctrines (Recommendation #45).
• Remove the Requirement That Written Receipts Acknowledging Charitable Contributions Must Be Contemporaneous (Recommendation #59).
• Enable the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) Program to Assist More Taxpayers in Controversies With the IRS (Recommendation #64).

Read the full report here.