The Internal Revenue Service is a massive "Three Letter Agency." It's a bureau of the Department of the Treasury and (believe it or not) one of the world's most efficient tax administrators. In fiscal year 2020, the IRS collected almost $3.5 trillion in revenue and processed more than 240 million tax returns. It has over 90,000 employees.







It is also about as popular as Communism and Dog Catchers with most people! This makes running this most public of organizations a challenge for garnering resources and maintaining safety, stability and confidence in the revenue collection that makes this country go.









https://youtu.be/mXxwh0IR3Ig









Charles “Chuck” Rettig is a Shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka in the Firm's Tax Controversy & Litigation practice and served as Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2018 through 2022. He shares his experience with us and some pointers in dealing with the Service.







How the IRS operates and its priorities:







The volume of work and responsibility of the Internal Revenue Service







The structure of the agency







Data Science is the Future







What it does that people may not be aware of









Other parts of the Treasury opine on tax policy, but the agency provides guidance on workability







Chuck as the Commissioner appeared before Congressional Committees 37 times in 4 years.







Personality matters both internally and externally







The Commissioner has an 11 person security detail and receives 3 credible death threats / week.









What to expect in the next years:







Legislative Uncertainty







Administrative Challenges









The Service has almost 400 Million "clients" with huge disparities in sophistication







Resources are always a struggle- getting bang for the buck







Personnel departures from the Service









Prediction: Increased aggressiveness at the state level







What best practices in front of the IRS look like.







Setting up your affairs with a ling term strategy in mind







Interacting with an Examiner







Speed and Humanity







The 3 headed approach to family office planning







High end advisory work with the T&E group







The overall context in working with the structure and culture of the IRS - having a backdoor channel







Litigation support for those situations that need it.







Links







With Kelley Miller: The IRS Audits You- What's Next?"







Transcript of the Show









https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/









Frazer Rice (00:01 )The IRS and taxation in general is in all sorts of tumult with the new administration. How to deal with the IRS, how to file your taxes, how to plan for things going forward. It's something to think about. We have Chuck Redig on and he is a terrific resource for all of our listeners. He's a shareholder at Chamberlain Herdlica. It is in the firm's tax controversy and litigation department.







Frazer Rice (00:26 )Most importantly, he served as commissioner of the IRS from 2018 through 2022. So we have a little inside baseball here on how the commission works and things to think about in your own practice. So Chuck, welcome aboard.