Why? The Service wants to determine collection targets for the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. One integral part of the Trust Fund Investigation is the form 4180 Interview.
The IRS uses form 4180 to interview potentially Responsible Individuals of the tax delinquent business.
Meeting with Your Revenue Officer
The IRS assigns a field collection employee, a Revenue Officer, to most delinquent payroll tax cases. Revenue Officers are considered the IRS’ front line of collections.
We think Revenue Officers have a built-in conflict of interest on their hands.
The Revenue Officer is charged with determining which individuals will be assessed the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. Part of their investigation process is to interview potentially Responsible Individuals, preferably in person.
Sometimes the 4180 interview is conducted without prior notification to the individual(s). Often, the Revenue Officer (RO) gives the individual a meeting date and time with a list of documents to bring. The individual shows up for a meeting, provides the documents and gets surprised with a list of questions about their responsibilities within the business.
In fact, the Internal Revenue Manual advises ROs not to provide a copy of form 4180 to the individual prior to the interview. So, even if you do know you’re going to the 4180 Interview, the IRS won’t let you know the questions ahead of time.
Get a copy of IRS form 4180. The IRS won’t give it to you, but we will.
Get a Power of Attorney Representative
If you or a member of your company find yourself in this situation, you can tell your RO that you’d like to stop the interview. You’ll be given the opportunity to retain a Power of Attorney representative. This will give you time to go over the questions before the next meeting so that you know what’s coming and can plan accordingly.
That’s what we do!
Contact us to find out how we help people fix tax problems.
