IRS Hires Private Debt Collection Agencies
The IRS announced that it will engage private debt collection companies to collet overdue tax liabilities in spring 2017. The tax debts that will be assigned to these private debt collection companies include any tax receivable that have been written off due to a lack of resources or an inability to track down the taxpayer or tax debt in collection that is outstanding more than 365 days without interaction with the taxpayer.
The IRS selected the following four companies as agencies for tax debt collection:
- Conserve Fairport
- Pioneer
- Performant Livemore
- CBE Group
The IRS urges taxpayers to be on the lookout for scam phone calls. The IRS will give taxpayers and their representative written notice that the accounts are being transferred to the private collection agencies. The agencies will send a second, separate letter to the taxpayer and their representative confirming this transfer. According to the IRS, the private collection agencies will inform taxpayers about electronic payment options on irs.gov/payments. In addition, any check payment should be made payable to the U.S. Treasury and sent directly to the IRS, not to the private collection agency. Taxpayers shouldn’t receive unexpected phone calls from the IRS demanding payment. When people owe tax, the IRS always sends several collection notices through the mail before making phone calls.
Please note that once the debt gets assigned to these private collection agencies, it becomes a daunting task to discuss the nature and amount of debt. For them, it is just a debt to collect and they have no interest in listening to your side of story. Pennsylvania is one of the states that outsources tax debt collection to a private collection company, Pioneer. Our experience working on the tax debt cases that have been transferred to Pioneer has been unpleasant and very difficult. So our recommendation is that taxpayers should be responsive and proactive to the IRS notices and communication so that your case does not get assigned to one of these collection agencies.
For additional detail, please click on the below links:
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/private-debt-collection