New Map Vividly Illustrates the Complexity of the Tax Code

The IRS isn’t exactly known for simplicity and here’s an example of them owning up to their complexity. The Taxpayer Advocate Service recently released a “roadmap” of the stages of a taxpayer’s journey, from getting answers to tax law questions, all the way to audits, appeals, collection, and litigation. By their own admission, they say “you can see from its numerous twists and turns, the road to compliance isn’t always easy to navigate. But we hope this map helps taxpayers find their way.” The TAS says the map illustrates why the road to tax compliance isn’t always easy to navigate. Yes, indeed……no wonder the cottage-industry of tax preparers isn’t going away any time soon.

“Anyone looking at this map will understand that we have an incredibly complex tax system that is almost impossible for the average taxpayer to navigate,” Olson said. “I personally have spent dozens of hours designing and preparing this map, as have many members of my staff…”

“…For every step shown on the map, there are tens of steps and interactions that are impossible to represent in a single document…” Said National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), Nina Olson, as reported by Forbes.