The IRS has six divisions, some of these are:

• Examination (audit)
• Appeals
• Office of General Counsel
• Criminal Investigation
• Collection

I am going to talk about the division that most often affects our clients the most drastically, and that is the Collection division.

The job of the Collection personnel is to come after you:

• to collect unpaid back taxes and
• to force you to file unfiled tax returns

These folks are indeed very dangerous. So you should be very careful.

They are trained to collect your money, not let you know what all your options are, or how to develop a customized strategy for your case to help the IRS get paid less.

There are three groups within the Collection division.

I’d like to give you some general facts about the people who work for the IRS. They are a cross section of humanity.

• Some are intelligent, but some are not.
• Some have lots of training, but some are ignorant.
• Some are nice, but some are mean and nasty.
• Some are helpful, but some have no idea what customer service means.

I think you get the picture. Who you get on the other end of the phone when you pick up the phone to call the IRS is basically just the luck of the draw.
The same goes for which Revenue Officer, the field collection officer, is assigned to your case. They are all paid to collect your money, but some will pull the money out of your wallet with a smile and some will simply scowl at you.

1. Automated Collection Service
   About ACS:
   dangerous because
2. the Large Dollar Unit (of ACS) which handles cases which have larger amounts of unpaid (generally $100,000 and over)
3. Revenue Officers (handle payroll tax and large dollar cases)
   About Revenue Officers:
   dangerous because
   – neighbors can see them drive up
   – employees can see them if you are a business owner
   – children may see them at your door
   • they will want very, very detailed financial information from you
     • they will put you under strict, short deadlines
4. many taxpayers make them mad by the statements they tell them, or by moving too slowly
   • they are not your friend, and even if you think they are acting half-way nice, never forget that every Revenue Officer has a manager that will push them to collect from you

You can see that the IRS has different levels of employees to fight their collection war. They are ready and willing to do whatever is necessary to get your money.