The Los Angeles Post

Taxpayers can now upload more documents to IRS; new online option for 9 notices can help resolve issues faster

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IR-2023-29, Feb. 16, 2023, WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers who receive certain notices requiring them to send information to the IRS now have the option of submitting their documentation online through IRS.gov.

This new secure step will allow taxpayers or their tax professional to electronically upload documents rather than mailing them in, helping reduce time and effort resolving tax issues.

In this stage of the ongoing effort, nine notices will be available for this feature. This potentially can help more than 500,000 taxpayers each year who receive these notices, which include military personnel serving in combat zone areas and recipients of important credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

“This capability is another step forward by the IRS to help taxpayers and improve service,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Doug O’Donnell. “This provides immediate benefits to taxpayers, who have nearly instant confirmation that documents were received by the IRS. In turn, this will dramatically speed up the resolution of issues by removing a time-consuming step in the process. This means people can have their issues resolved much faster, including getting refunds to affected taxpayers faster. We will continue to look at improvements like this as we work to transform the IRS following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year.”

Initially, the online correspondence feature will be available to taxpayers who receive one of nine IRS notices. For the most part, the IRS sends these notices to individual tax filers claiming various tax benefits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and moderate-income workers, the Child Tax Credit for families with dependents, the Premium Tax Credit for those who obtain health coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace and members of the military claiming combat zone tax benefits.

Taxpayers receiving these notices can respond securely to IRS online, regardless of whether they have an IRS Online Account.

IRS created the Document Upload Tool

IRS information technology specialists developed a prototype for the Document Upload Tool  in 2021. Since then, the IRS has been testing this feature on a limited number of exam-related notices, and 38% of the responses to these notices have used the agency’s secure electronic communications rather than traditional mail.

How it works

Language on the notice informs the taxpayer to, “Send us your documents using the Documentation Upload Tool within 30 days from the date of this notice.” It includes the link and a unique access code.

  • The taxpayer can open the link in any browser and then input their unique code, their first and last name and their Social Security, Individual Taxpayer Identification or Employee Identification number.
  • The taxpayer can then securely upload scans, photos or digital copies of documents (maximum of 15MB per file, up to 40 files).
  • The taxpayer receives a confirmation that the IRS received their documents, and the IRS employee assigned the case can manage the transmitted documents.

 

What notices qualify?

 

Taxpayers who receive one of the following notices with the link and access code can choose to upload their documents:

  • CP04, relating to combat zone status.
  • CP05A, information request related to a refund.
  • CP06 and CP06A, relating to the Premium Tax Credit.
  • CP08, relating to the Child Tax Credit.
  • CP09, relating to claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit.
  • CP75, relating to the EITC.
  • CP75a, relating to the EITC.
  • CP75d, relating to the EITC and other credits.

 

Future expansion planned

 

In the coming months and years, the IRS plans to expand this capability to dozens of other notices. In addition, the IRS will offer digital correspondence on a variety of other taxpayer interactions. During live interactions such as phone calls with taxpayers, IRS employees will be able to grant upload access by providing the link and unique access code.

 

With secure digital correspondence, everybody wins

 

For taxpayers and tax professionals working with the IRS, this new capability reduces the correspondence burden, ensures tax compliance and improves the customer experience. For IRS employees, this reduces paper correspondence, decreases processing time and speeds case resolution.

 

For more information, see the fact sheet Resolving cases with secure digital correspondence for taxpayers on IRS.gov.