{"id":17548,"date":"2011-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/irs-plain-english\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T22:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T22:03:58","slug":"irs-plain-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/irs-plain-english\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS and Plain English"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people I talk to about their IRS problem have already built the worst-case scenario in their head. The reality is usually much more manageable. I'm Darrin Mish, and I've been representing taxpayers before the IRS for 32 years. Here's what actually tends to happen.<\/p>\n

Did you know the first thought some taxpayers get when they receive a letter from the IRS stating \u2018notice to levy\u2019 is, \u201cWho\u2019s Levy?\u201d \u00a0They mistakenly think it was wrongly sent to them and call in to the IRS call center to complain. \u00a0Likewise, according to call center records, a full quarter of the people who received IRS letters in 2007 demanding proof of eligibility for a low-income tax credit didn’t realize they were being audited.<\/a>
\nThese and other instances of miscommunications and misunderstandings have given rise to the need for the Plain Writing Act. \u00a0Every year, the IRS sends out some 200 million letters to taxpayers. \u00a0When these letters contain unambiguous and crystal clear sentences, it would reduce the need for taxpayers to call in to the IRS for clarification. \u00a0Each call costs the IRS about $25 and in 2010, the call center received some 110 million calls.
\nThe Plain Writing Act was signed into law by President Obama last year and compels every government department to communicate in \u2018clear, concise, well-organized\u2019 language by October 2011. \u00a0The law does not cover regulations, but it does apply to all other documents that describe government requirements or services such as tax forms, letters, benefits applications, and Medicare and Social Security handbooks.
\nNot only does clear communication reduce administrative and enforcement cost, but there is evidence that it also improves compliance with rules and reduces errors.
\nIn 2008, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman appointed Jodi Patterson, former IRS Communications Director, to establish the Office of Taxpayer Correspondence and streamline the agency\u2019s complicated automated correspondence system. \u00a0Patterson solicited the services of Siegel and Gale, a New York-based design firm that went to work and who had produced, among other things, the present 1040EZ back in 1979.
\nSiegel and Gale diagnosed the problem as redundancy in a large number of IRS letters and the \u2018excessively authoritative\u2019 tone in the language that often failed to clearly state their purpose. \u00a0After 2 years, the IRS has managed to redesign 85 of the most commonly sent letters based on 9 prototypes that were proven to be user-friendly by a sample of 400 representative taxpayers. \u00a0These 85 letters account for 50% of the correspondence volume. \u00a0For the record, the word \u2018levy\u2019 now appears with a word that clearly defines it \u2013 \u2018seize\u2019.
\nBut the more significant development in this project is the realization that almost all correspondences from the IRS boil down to only 2 essential messages. \u00a0They are either \u2018Send us more money\u2019 or \u2018Give us more information\u2019. \u00a0From there the IRS was able to reduce the content of about 700 letters down to fewer than 40, and develop a \u2018content library\u2019 of words proven to be comprehensible to the average taxpayer.<\/p>\n

Check out more Tax Related News<\/a> stories by clicking that link.<\/p>\n

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Most people I talk to about their IRS problem have already built the worst-case scenario in their head. The reality is usually much more manageable. I'm Darrin Mish, and I've been representing taxpayers before the IRS for 32 years. Here's what actually tends to happen. Did you know the first thought some taxpayers get when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[591],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-17548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-news","tag-irs-audit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22011,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17548\/revisions\/22011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}