state of the union begins at 8:00 a.m. eastern with a preview of the address. 8:00 p.m. eastern. followed by the state of the union at 9:00. after the president's speech, we'll take your calls. we'll also hear reaction from members of congress. that's live here on c-span. cspan.org and also available on our free c-span radio app. right now a conversation on i.r.s. implementation of the new tax law from "washington journal." ournal" continues. welcome back nina olson, i.r.s. national taxpayer advocate here to talk about the implementation of the new tax law, amongst other things. good morning. remind people about your position, the role you take at i.r.s. guest: i am the voice of the the i.r.s.side i head the taxpayer advocate 17-1700 about employees, who are supposed to taxpayer solve their problem with the i.r.s. and make legislative and administrative the mendations to mitigate

problems. host: one thing you have written about, including your report to tax law passed and signed into law by the president. ready to implement that? guest: that was major concern of ine because of the budget cuts the i.r.s. experienced since inflation 20% in adjusted dollars and then you have major list like new tax requires, i don't know, about 400 new changes to forms. are 140 filing season systems that need to be to ogrammed and people need be retrained and taxpayers need of the ucated on top regular work. i've been very concerned about that. plugging along, doing things, but it has put in additional st for funding for tax reform implementation to congress. deficienciese were leading up to this, what were by? caused guest: i think some is there has

been underestimation of the taxpayer service and outreach in education. i think people have not given credence to the fact that any major change is going to anxiety to the taxpayers of the united states. they want stability in their terms of their relationship with the tax collector and not having answers knowing and not necessarily being able to get hrough on the phones or the i.r.s. cuts tax law question the lines off on april, day after filing season ends, so if you call on that day, it's is nobody there to answer and to me, it's, particularly with the new law, just when i'm thinking well, how is this going to affect me next year. 2017 return, i see hat happened in 2017, what's going to go away or be added in 2018? up the phonei pick and call the i.r.s.

as of now, there will be nobody there to answer the phone, i'm concerned about that. host: these are things we'll consider in our hour with nina olson, if you have questions for her, it's 202-748-8000 for the eastern and central time zone. and 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone. e will also, you can tweet questions or comments at c-spanwj. among questions taxpayers may this time, what are they? they are looking to the i.r.s. to get answers. obviously what we saw in december was concern about the property tax limitation and i there was great deal of confusion and still working its way through and i think we'll facing some fall-out of that for years, as people say, well, i paid in advance and that should be contribution to my estate or whatever, whether uphold that, i don't know. now what you are seeing, i think people's minds, are amounts hholding

correct? the i.r.s. has put out new withholding tables, but they're still working on the w-4 form, where amounts correct? the you used to claim exemptions, but now no personal law, for under the new this current year, have you to form and the i.r.s. is also working on little on ite like a calculator their website, but don't have the new form or calculator out going to have to fudge, i tried to do it for yself last week and it took me literally about two hours to thought was t i right amount to be withheld every two weeks, which is how i make sure i wasn't under withheld and also wasn't money in lot of because i don't particularly interest-free loan to anybody, you know. host: normally in those kind of past, someone he call the i.r.s., someone pick up answer.end and have an

fwee uest: right, could have an answer or do the calculator, they realize that is critical. 400 i say, there are about forms, publications, rulings revised based on this law and that is going to and a year to a year half, if not much longer going forward, just to get basic the basic out of provisions of the law. the: listen to the words of treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, interviewed about the process and get his response, how his response and then get your take on it, here he is. >> it is a massive amount of treasury and the i.r.s. yesterday. we just announced new withholding table, so people get tax breaks in february, is uld say good news, there nothing we've identified so far that we think is particularly problematic that we think we technical correction. there are like 80 sections of he bill that are left to the secretary to put out

regulations, we have a lot of work at treasury in the i.r.s. now, very often when you pass new tax legislation, the i.r.s. has more work, doesn't seem to new evidence of hiring more gent-- agents. do you not need to do that? touches every aspect of the i.r.s. from technology to forms and we are speaking with congress about for ng additional funding the implementation. we would expect that we would ire significant number of people to help with the implementation. get from that?ou guest: i agree how he's assessed it. administration put out a request just a formal request for 397 million dollars two years, and 19. hours, me equivalent

outreach,to deal with education, taxpayer ark cy -- assistants. is new hires and that is significant. just about two year, we have to now to be ramming able to do the testing, seasona, for next filing and it is really just, you know, not very long in something as massive as this to redesigning significant number of systems, so delays in getting that, you know, two the i.r.s. will implement this bill, this law, they don't get funding, what will they take the to reprogram order the systems and things like that? that is where i'm really concerned, we've seen that happen before, when i.r.s. did theget funding to implement affordable care act and they put on hold very taxpayer friendly important improvements to

the computers, to the system, assistance and i'm worried if we don't get funding, we'll again and i don't want that to happen. ost: nina olson, i.r.s. national taxpayer advocate. 202-748-8000 for those in the eastern and central time zone 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. we'll start in new jersey with pat. with nina olson. go ahead. caller: hello, mrs. olson, can me, has the i.r.s. changed the way it is implement the affordable care act? many times on "washington journal" the only way for them to collect a was to withhold my refund. month ago i got a letter asking me to file amended showing proof of payment or pay penalty. the do they do to affordable care act? one more thing, new tax law, 2018 the penalty fw away in or would i wait until 2020 to

avoid that penalty? thank you. guest: okay, first on penalty tis my understanding and believe studying the act the same time as everybody else, very large bill. go away for -- the tax year 2018 for the returns in 2019.are filing my understanding is it going yearfor returns of the tax 2019 for the returns that you'd 2020.ling in if i'm wrong, somebody can correct me, but that is my understanding of it. terms of implementation, the law says that the only way the collect is by either basically offsetting the refund payments.rs making you have a refund of your regular tax return and the they will offset the amount of the penalty up to the your refund and it will still be a liability on the books if you get a refund the year, they can offset it

against, if you owe from the ear before, offset it gaebs next year's refund, as well. they can't go out and levee, into your bank account or wages. now, that doesn't mean they letters out to you, if they have questions about correct ou have the coverage or some people have not reconcile orms to what subsidy they have gotten in advance and then what they might at the end of the year. the i.r.s. will normally through return send out letters saying please send this information or else we will this penalty because we don't think you have the right coverage. notice that he you've gotten and that may be something easily resolved if you the the receipts or evidence and things like that. that goes to, you know, you need get ll the i.r.s. and through on the phones and depending on what time of year t is, that is a very challenging thing to do.

but i would not ignore that i always tell people, do not ignore notices, the worst do is not respond because the i.r.s. in many ways s a machine and it will keep rolling and nonresponse means that you agree you did something rong and you don't want to be in that conversation. host: today is first day that people can file? yes, january 29th. host: florida, you are next, ahead.go caller: yes, good morning. he i.r.s. is antiquated, we live in the 21st century, did you hear of black chain and algorithms. things that monitor your can't i.r.s. do the same thing and at the end, as your income goes up, take more if your income goes down, take less out. you a the year, send check or rand paul said he wants smaller government, so why don't advocate lobbyists and talk

and -- mnuchin host: caller, we get it. guest: first thing, i'm not a i'm a federal employee, appointed, was appointed by the secretary in 2001. job is described by congress in the internal revenue code, is to be an i.r.s. employee, but be independent and speak up for taxpayers. in fact, your points are really well taken, about one, how is.quated the i.r.s. i have written pages and pages nd page necessary my annual report to congress pointing out antiquated and behind the world it is. change, useust block of artificial intelligence. oldest s. has the two databases in the federal to the nt, according government accountability office, the systems where we hold individual tax information of the business taxpayer

information and that's scary when you think about that. the other hand, you know, one thing that we don't have in our ystem and the system that you describe, where the i.r.s. knows what money you have coming in. of although we have a lot information reporting of wages income,rest in dividend other countries have what they pay-as-you-earn system. what you make from your employer an exact rate and all have you to do at the end of the year, you don't have to do anything, you know, the government knows this you mation and tells whether you were -- that you are done unless you've had self-employment income or had stock sales or something like that. and only then do have you to file. that amount of information can be a is a burden, burden on employers or independent contractors and so been political will

to do that kind of thing. my office has actually this year proposed something like that and we're working on a study next year to show what the rest of steps ld does and what the i.r.s. could take to get closer to that. related questions off twitter. diana, how come they can't revent identity fraud except say, file early, if the address is different, why can't they question this? security? will fraud increase this wreer? guest: yeah. my office, om 2005, because we get the cases from 240,000 s, we get about cases per year from taxpayers who really have problems with i.r.s. the number one issue that we 2010 has ince about been identity theft and it in the -- it ed used to be that identity theft person e a one-off stealing somebody, getting a social security card and trying cute by half. it moved to organized crime and

efforts.d and that is what we've seen. the i.r.s. has a lot of filters using, artificial intelligence to try to identify schemes and d the things like that, put some that that have happened helped, we are now, congress last year was first filing season, this is the econd, ordered employers to give us their w-2 information by anuary 31st, when they file with social security. and what that has done, given th, by ay is the 29 wednesday, we will have most of w-2 information so we can run returns through as they come in to see whether this is a fraudulent return because the up and doesn't match the real return that the taxpayer is. we were able to not

stop as many legitimate didn't have n we that information, we didn't know which was the correct return and you'd have to stop both. that puts a burden on the legitimate taxpayer. have to say, that is getting better. you know, the thieves are very, very clever you know, mole that you whack down, there is nother one that pops up in another scheme and it is just very, very difficult. my thing has been then, if to have some going legitimate taxpayers caught up do his, so what you need to is give them one employee assigned to their issue. them call and tell their story 20,000 times to people.t just this year, the i.r.s. has agreed to do that, it's taken i'm since 2005 to agree and sorry it took that long, but now

assigned t one person to your case, who knows your really work with you, so you won't fall through the cracks. of course, if it doesn't work, he taxpayer advocate service and there is an office local one inr advocate office, every state, there are 79 around country, some states more than one and there you will get with you ee who stays from start to finish and if you have more than one year caught up, we're not going to close the case until we resolve all the issues. taxpayer advocate .r.s.gov, website for taxpayer advocate service, find more office about local offices. carolina, hi th there. caller: hi, how are you? i'm calling in to ask a question like this year, will you be able o take your interest off your home and your property taxes?

what do you call it, i get one pay per month and i work for the state and i don't know. i want to see if i can still use or will it xt year end after this year? guest: right. so when you say this year, for that you are filing 20 2017, the old law is in place, you'll be able to local income nd taxes, if you can itemize, as taxes on your y personal residence. ow the same thing with your mortgage interest, there's the current restriction that the oan has to be a million authorize or less. now going forward for this year, 2018, the year we're in, 2019, the iling in rules have changed. so there is a cap for your state local income taxes and then

of property taxes combined $10,000. more than $10,000 and you $10,000 in than able to will only be claim up to $10,000 in '18. you can deduct mortgage interest, but only up $750,000, except some mortgage loans are grandfathered in. if you had a loan today or esterday -- or rather end of 2017, and it was a million, then of grandfathered in. there is a lot on the mortgage where youide, that is need to look at the rules to the issues guidance on that i.r.s. and gethe answers to tax law questions or to a el you need to go

preparer. one thing i recommended to the i.r.s., i think it is just in lutely necessary, addition to keeping phones for open beyond ions april 17th this year, is that phone line,edicated like for people like you to be able to call a toll free number those questions without having to hire someone right away. answer may be oh, these are the basic rules and you may well, i don't understand the basic rules and now i need to consult with someone. is fine, but your government should give you basic basic information. host: this is 2017 1040, any major changes to this form know about?d guest: not really. is more he main change in procedure when refunds will e issued for people getting earned income tax credit and advanced child tax -- getting he child tax credit and they

were involved in that. delayed unds will be until february 15th and they probably won't go out until the 10 days after that date. that is the law. -- ou know host: delay attributed to what? guest: measure congress put in, about re concerned improper payments for earned income credit, refundable don't even have to owe taxes and you would still is given back and it to the working poor primarily who have children, so it is to to low income working families, but there has been, it's a very complex provision so there is a lot of error in it, not the most dollars thing, the going out, congress has been concerned, they have said, let's get these w-2's in early, give i.r.s. chance to match them, chance to look at the returns before we issue the refunds. refunds ave said no every year on those two

provisions for returns with provisions until april 15th. host: sheila in louisiana. there. guest: hi. caller: good morning. 2017 ation 17 for the income tax year. is it still incorrect on the website, the i.r.s., could you tell me when you are going to update it? is an you are saying it old publication? have you checked this morning? because if you -- even last filing season hadn't the , the forms are for 2016 tax year, which was last year's filing season. it is my understanding that a lot of the new forms went probably over this weekend, going to do 'm something very unusual, which is address and -mail you can let me know, so i can

get it fixed. my e-mail address is nina.e.olson@i.r.s.gov. let me know if this morning or ater this afternoon, it is not the 2017 version for use with tax forms. host: let us know how many people respond. is really interesting, i tell people, if you've got problems, you can certainly come to me. we have local office necessary each state and those phone and rs are on our website the blue pages of the phone book book nybody has a phone anymore, and go to them, they are the ones that are going to assign pen the case and you a case advocate and if you yourl me, please don't put social security number in an e-mail, just tell me the issue and then i'll have one of my call you back.

but it is interesting, people do good way to is understand what is going on and what taxpayers are experiencing respectful of the act if you send me 20,000 emails, i won't be able to answer. 17?: what is publication guest: sort of your taxes, it describes everything, pretty everything about an taxpayer tax -- needs. it contains a lot of instructions that you otherwise have to get individually. and it used to be available, you could call and are order it and to be available in librarys and things like that. the i.r.s. has been reducing the forms it makes available to people in paper. get a lot of frustration about that, it is a cost-saving penny wise and pound foolish. host: this is mike for nina olson, island, florida, hi

there. caller: hi. for us calling low-income earners, like $30,000 less, next year supposed to deduction.standard my question is, would you ofommend changing the number dependents you claim and the ther thing is, are your property taxes and any other deductions, if they don't add up 24,000, then you just take the standard deduction? thank you. guest: to the latter thing, that is the intention of the law. viewed, what congress they -- i agree with this, that don't lification, if you have to keep all your receipts and stuff and you can just take single and if $24,000 if married. just not it is worth -- it will be better for ou to just claim the $24,000 standard deduction if your

are below e over -- that amount, rather, i'm sorry. again, s of exemptions, what i was talking about at the beginning, the i.r.s. has given employers, made public to employers, new withholding percentages based on the new aw, but they're not as precise as we'd like them to be because hey are based on old exemption things like personal exemption which usal exemption, don't exist anymore for this coming year. i would wait a bit until the supposed to get out of new w-4, maybe by the end february and i would sort of wait a bit to see when that form gets out, i would definitely do that and give it to your to make sure you're withheld properly, that will nable them to do the right

calculation, same time, they'll have a calculator, where you in basically what you think your property taxes are taxg to be and state income and mortgage interest and there you can tell whether you should standard deduction or not. that will help a lot 6789 i myself, just t for walking it through, what i knew of the law, it took two hours. you u want to do that, could do that on a nice rainy sunday. host: several states that have taxes, reports they will try to find work around, what through your mind when you hear that? guest: i think we will be in litigation for a long time. know, you know, another thing people don't think about, trickle-down effect to any ederal law change, many, many states, their income taxes are tart with the federal adjusted gross income and then add this back and deduct this. state taxable the income and then they factor it on. maryland, for example,

determined, their treasury, taxpayers end y up with a tax increase because on the feds ybacks and they're trying to figure out neutral, e it revenue like do change their law so you end up where you were in 2017, don't owe more because of the federal changes. 'm sure other states are wrestling with that. some states may see reduction in depends how the states work off the federal income tax. this whole issue with property tax, you know, i think that again, it just underestimates people feel, you know, people want stability in their get , they don't want to into "i don't know whether i'm owing too much or too little and mean to me," and when there is vacuum and not nough information out there, people react and that is why i think it is so important for the there, to get out

proactively, explain provisions, down and get as much information out there as quickly as possible. and have that there.number up we don't know what taxpayers are worried about, we need to hear way is to ers, one answer, hear their questions. is : from akron, ohio, mike next. caller: yes, i don't really have a question, just a concern. a victim of i.d. theft, yself, i will never forget the day, august 9, 2013, somebody third bank a fifth $40,000 out withdrew f my checking account and an hour later went into another fifth third bank and withdrew savings account. i get a phone call asking me if lately.n to chicago the second bank, they finally found out five minutes after the the lobby that they

were taken. have an ethnic last name, nobody in akron ohio with my last name, outside of me, my dad brother. maybe five family necessary chicago with my last name. nigerian, is, i am not the person who did this was nigerian, and misspelled my name, my first name is transcribed.d e biggest insult of my life. got detective from chicago working on this case, akron police department on this case, o satisfaction, i've done everything i can, how could they do that, twice in one day? caller.anks, guest: this is the splurge of identity theft and so many pieces. what you described is the financial sector dealing with that. and the second bank, obviously had done some very good train employees about recognizing suspicious questionable d

transactions and i think and this is regrettable, that has been slow to come pervasive and w horrible this is. i keep saying to people, there more important than your identity, this is your identity. nd to have it taken from you, then to spend the next four, having rs of your life to deal with repercussions of being taken is devastating in itself. banks have at the woken sxup are doing more training. arlier caller talked about blocking, artificial intelligence and data mineing detection filters being able to see a transaction that raises questions and stop right there and ask for more more ntation and ask for

identification and see if it is spelling your first name wrong. like x side, something that happens to you, you need to ca all the i.r.s. and they will make you prove this happened nyour case, you filed a police can send that to the i.r.s. for the next filing season, they called an ou what is i.p. pin, a separate number that know, it is lone not like your social security number, your social security number is already out there, you pin on it f. i.p. i.r.s. gets a return that they t have the i.p. pin, won't process it, they know that that is either from the thief or forgot your i.p. pin. if you put your pin on, they you know it is from you and

won't be burdened yet again by because your theft return will go through and they others.op the but in your case, because the fraud didn't happen in the tax outside the tax system with the banks, you need to call the i.r.s., if you haven't already. sometimes that system doesn't work and sometimes you have had, you know, returns before you had i.p. pin held up n. that case, i recommend you come to the advocate service, if you are in ohio, we have several cincinnati, eland, they will take your case and work with you and stay with you the whole thing until we get this figured out. 'm so sorry you are going through this. host: nina olson, the i.r.s. ational taxpayer advocate, founded executive director of the community tax law project. has her masters from from -- n, law degree how did you end up in this

position? guest: by accident. mentioned, founded first low-income taxpayer clinic that operated like a legal aide. we in virginia covered entire low-incomerginia for folks who might have problems ith the i.r.s. and with the state tax aigence and he got olunteer lawyers and accountants to help represent taxpayers before the i.r.s. that brought me to the attention of congress and so i testified congress about the problems those folks were having nd next thing i knew, in 2001, people said, we want you to be the national taxpayer advocate, am.e i host: ever been a position like that before? guest: this position had been or another e form since the '70s, congress put it '90s and in the early then late '80s, early '90s, and in 1998, made major revision to the office that it is today. other person who

is there, valoverson, took the and or a year and a half i've been it since 2001. host: how many staff in your office? budget for your office? uest: my budget is $206 million, with about their 12 million we make in grants to taxpayer clinics around the country to represent taxpayers. have about 1750 employees united states. in washington, d.c., 250 people on he headquarters working various things. i have a whole branch that works systemic problems, local 200 somewhated thousand cases from taxpayers, but we look at, here is a that doesn't just affect one taxpayer, it affects a group. be the law is written in a way that has unintended way the law is

administer side harming taxpayers, we call that systemic i have a group of folks that look at that and work with the i.r.s. on teams and changes to processes and most importantly, this is lot of work, reviewing i.r.s. instructions to them ees before they send out to employees f. we can solve problems before they each go out employees that create problems, that is a really good thing. mark from norfolk, virginia, go ahead. aller: yes, good morning, mrs. olson. i want to thank c-span for having on you. ago, i calledears in and you made yourself available, i was able to leave of the r with one producers and it made a huge wife's nce in me and my tax life and so now we have been of three or four years, being able to get some s, versus owing like

ungodly amount of money. i wanted to say thank you very much and keep up the good work. mark, in a general sense, what problem about you have and how was it solved? caller: what happened, the owed $80,000 in a general taxes. a what it was, there were couple revisions over some years boggedme kind of way got down in the system and so after journal, i think mrs. olson, i think number one out of er two person washington, d.c. contacted me and that made a huge difference. was dealing out of your denver office, mrs. olson and the staff unbelievable. with the help of the taxpayer advocate and my accountant, our just turned around like drastically, and i'll never that and i thank c-span and mrs. olson, thank you very much. really nice to

hear. sometimes we do drop the ball and again, if we do drop the want to know about it. and i go out to my staff and you having e is lems, do you need help there a technical or legal issue you need to work through? to get this eed problem solved? but i'm very glad to hear that kind of thing. want to say something about the amount, you know, you thing.ned $80,000 there is a new law that and effect i wrote about in the annual report to congress, in 2015, congress law that said that anybody who owes more than $50,000 to the i.r.s., and has a certain point, i.r.s. certified, the must certify to the department of state that these people owe $50,000 or more, this year it is

$51,000 adjusted for inflation, they will not be able to get a new passport or if they apply renewal, they will not be able to get the renewal until they deal with their tax debt. either get into pay it in installment nto an agreement or have an offer and compromise, the i.r.s. created for example, if you really cannot afford to pay your taxes, then you can get called currently not collectible status, where we action ke collection against you, but the debt still is there and will accrue pen alt and he interest. this is very serious and i about how of concerns the i.r.s. is administering this program. i wrote in the annual report and blog that i also just if you have a t debt over $50,000 i recommend ou come to the taxpayer

advocate service very quickly so we can work with you, like this turned out what he's saying, i can't discuss the ase, but from what he said, there was a lot of misunderstanding and that wasn't owed.mount that was we have a lot of cases it takes us a while to get the i.r.s. to and at and go through figure out what the correct amount is, often less than $50,000 f. we can get that, you won't be caught up in this program. local taxpayerur dvocate and we have on our website, office numbers for each state and you can say that you c-span from his on the national taxpayer advocate. call.suggested you host: lincoln, nebraska, mark is next, hi. helping es, i've been i.r.s. cid, off and on since 1985. and i was wondering, on the 211 is that 10% for the first

and 7% for the reward? guest: so the cid is criminal investigation division of the revenue service and i think what you're referring to whistle blower, percentage of hat your lead would provide to criminal investigation division your at they collect from lead that you would get a percentage based on that tip. admit, i'm not familiar with the percentages. e-mail want to leave your address, or your phone number ith the folks here at c-span, can have someone call you and more specifically answer your questions. my staff who, on you know, works on that, works that program is

working well, etcetera. staten island, new york, doug is next for nina olson, hi. c-span, i ank you, wasn't aware of the national taxpayer advocate, so it is a this.ure to actually see we just don't get this from other stations, thank god for you guys. you, mrs. olson, i want to ask three quick questions. number one, i'm disabled and i don't have a computer, will i get be able to call and tax forms from the government? it was very hard the last two of phone calls until i finally got through, number one. two, has anything really changed from last year or will i use d deductions, 1040-a, i'm retired, and have just social bit of and little pension. yeah. these two things, i was get ring, how does one through this if they're not

going to be able to get the forms through the mail anymore, have of us don't computers. host: thanks, caller. guest: you raise a critically question. my office did research study this year and we identified are 41 million u.s. taxpayers, based on nationwide sample ofpresentative taxpayers who filed returns within the last three years, are actively taxpayers. 41 million u.s. taxpayers that have broad-band access in their home. they are doing dial-up. 14 million re are .s. taxpayers that have no internet access in their home. here is disabled are a large percentage of that group. my message to the i.r.s., the .r.s. has been because of budget cuts, really trying to push people online. they have been, you know, trying get, they think that is the cheapest thing and it may be in the short term, the cheapest

thing, but my -- what i've been trying to say to them, you away from any single service delivery channel, you to maintain the phones, maintain face-to-face, have you mailing out forms, as well as online, and you have strongest case in point. if you have difficulty i don't want everybody in the world to call the taxpayer advocate service to seriously, cucall your local taxpayer advocate if you really can't get it and we print out forms and get them to you. it is frustrating, the i.r.s. sites and they have taken the position they send out certain number of forms and when they run out, they're not refilling them. that is to me, crazy. because if taxpayers are taking the trouble and saying, i want front of me, we want people to file taxes, we should they want in order to

get them to file the taxes. so, you can reach out to your taxpayer advocate if you can't get it through the normal just know that i will be using you as an example to maintain all delivery channels. amni-channel n environment, you maintain everything because some people will be comfortable doing online, others will not. and we need to be there for all taxpayers. host: you talked about staffing issues, what is the strength of comes to audits and collections? guest: it is interesting, this in the annual report, i tracked what i think are core unctions in the i.r.s. from about 2011 to the end of the september, 2017, 2017. and pretty much every single core function, collection employees, the appeals officers, the outreach and education people, all had declines between

32 and 40%, just in the number people. but auditors declined only by 2%. so that is a very interesting figure to me, the i.r.s. has that audit employment and yet when i'm out in talking practitioners, they say that the auditors, they are not happening, audits that has me wondering and we'll what are this year, auditors doing, if they are there, you know, people are aying they are not out auditing, what are they doing? host: one time the i.r.s. was collectors, e debt how did that work out? guest: second time, actually stopped it, when they it, it was highly ineffective. but congress changed the law and it has been in place since march of 2017 and in my report this year, i report out some results. report, i actually, i

ersonally think collecting taxes is an inherently governmental function and cannot congress has but passed law and that is law of the land, my job is to make sure are not harmed in the process. what we've found is that the majority, pretty much majority taxpayers making payments have income that would qualify as low income for like representation from my clinic. worked at.that i we know of the people who have agreementsinstallment from private debt collectors, 45% of them, the i.r.s. they not collect a dime, put them in currentsly not collectible status, cannot to pay basic living expenses and pay their tax. program, ow from the the most vulnerable people are answering the phones from the debt collectors and

making payments, payments that were ldn't collect if we making calls and finding out financial information. of is actually the design the program as the i.r.s. designed it. my criticism this time around is i.r.s. has designed it, that they are sending taxpayers level out to the private collection agencies to work. and could screen them out we will see what the i.r.s. does in response to my concerns in have shown. i know both republicans and democrats on the hill, i shared concerned, re very they say that is not what this program is about. is from georgia, this ellen. ellen. caller: hi. yes, hello. host: go ahead, you're on. mrs. olson, i have been listening to you this followed you over the years and i several times said, if you have

questions, call your i.r.s. office. atlantan georgia in the area, there are three offices numbers. two phone if you call the first phone a recorded message telling you, you have to make an appointment to please call the line and it automatically hangs up on you. to see s i've been able there, is no way to call just to ask a question. so i don't know how it is in states, but this is definitely a problem. guest: well, you are not calling that ice when you get line, you are calling the main i.r.s. number and what you raise really important issue. the i.r.s. has a walk-in site, a walk-in t really site anymore, they have gone appointment only for all intents purposes, so if you torp show up there, they would pretty tell you you away and to make an appointment and we have told them, recommended that handle -- continue to

handle walk-ins, people are showing up. offices that i have in georgia and actually one in ing to open savannah in the next year or two, but it is not there yet. have two offices in atlanta and one is in downtown atlanta peachtree. and there you can walk in and get help without an appointment, but the number is on our website true, you may get a recording if the intake person is on the line with another person, but they should be calling you back. and if they aren't, well, i've e-mail address and you can let me know. ut the number for the taxpayer advocate service is different from the i.r.s. i will also tell you that there number for the and nal taxpayer advocate that is not staffed by my employee, staffed for the phone the i.r.s.

if you talk to them, they may be able to quickly solve your problem. they will put you through in realtime to one of my advocates, who will then take your case in and get your out to the appropriate local office as in mirror where live. so there are number of things website up e our online, but if you have problems, you can let me know. from lexington, virginia, peggy, hello. caller: hi. concern is with the affordable care act, penalty hat people had to pay for not having insurance, is that something that is going to be 2017?in effect for guest: right, it will still be yes.fect for 2017, and you will need to address the on your return or i.r.s. will send you a notice adjusting your return for that as a previous caller noted,

the only way it can collect it offsetting refunds or you making a voluntary payment. massachusetts, tony is next. caller: hello. hello. caller: good morning. my wife and i are both on social and we only -- social only have topients declare 85% of their social year in income next 2018, is that going to be 100%? guest: i don't think so. haven't seen that provision, i think that provision still remains. that is a really good question and i will make sure that the makes that clear on its website, that is really, i'm grateful that you called because other people will have concerns about that, that is obviously omething that people need to know. host: bob from washington state. hello.: host: you're on, go ahead.

caller: yes, i have two questions for next year. my first one is a small business in a home. allowed to 're deduct professional amount, but ext year i heard we're not going to be able to use it for small business in the home, h&r block, l like taxes, if nder the you are senior citizen, like me received e, we 15,100 this heir ear, this year it is $15,200, plus personal exemption, which brought us up to almost $24,000. year, the new one says they do at $24,000 do anything extra for senior citizen? guest: yeah, really great i don't the in, answer to that, i'm still wading law.ugh the this is great opportunity for me

to hear all the things i don't know so i can make sure that is out there. i know that they have eliminated provisions, i just don't know about the extra for for over 65, my hunch is they have eliminated that and build-up for certain disabilities and i will look the that and make sure i.r.s. makes that very, very forward.ing you know, the deduction for the haven't seen nmy looking at the law, i haven't seen any there ist for that and rate for this standard business use of your phone. so i haven't seen any that.tments to host: as person who files taxes, to is good time to stick

software-based service versus person, an accountant? how much -- what is reasonable price to pay for those thing? guest: i don't know a reasonable price to pay. personally feel that people should be able to prepare their returns, they have the privilege taxes, they shouldn't have to pay arm and leg for the taxes.ge of paying but i also know from having been a return preparer that people had extraordinarily simple returns were so anxious doing i'd hey kept coming to me, say, don't come back next year this, is silly, you are wasting it money, do it yourself, is anxiety factor. if youi think, you know, have fairly, you have complex things, you may want to consult if it is justeven consultation fee, even if you software you don't miss anything. software gets more and more year in and year

out, but each year we see things hey leave out, we get complaints on systemic agency side. you have ut to say, missed something. we found with affordable care whole bunch of a exclusions and exemptions to the penalty people have been talking a number of software companies hadn't asked about didn't ask the taxpayer about that, got socked with penalty when they didn't need to. are able to go back to the companies and say, you need to hadeprogramming here and we got that addressed. nd i know that the software companies are eager to find out how the i.r.s. is implementing they have to nce, program their stuff to be ready for next year's filing season. one does i.r.s. endorse type of software over another? guest: no, they do not. alliance, ree file which is an agreement with a rade association of the

software companies and you can go on the website and you can hit the free file button. will see is i don't products.19 different most people have found it very confusing in usage of free file down and down nd and down and down from the years everybody.sn't cover there is a tool, which is called that is able forms, what i use, just what i've been do, ng the i.r.s. should cukey in, link , to instructions and it does you can electronically file for free and submit it for free and so that is there and has fewer users, but i'm one ofn them. someone for to pay the privilege of paying my taxes. host: nina olson, national the i.r.s.vocate for taxpayer advocate.ooh

>> ed royce said i have a southern california job creator as my guest. ames lynn is the c.e.o. head quartered in walnut, california. representative murphy said i sat down with my guest and his family today to learn more about the challenges that displaced american families face when they relocate to central florida from puerto rico. their courage inspires me to keep fighting on their behalf. >> the president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> tonight, president trump

gives his first state of the union address. join us on c-span for a preview of the evening at 8:00 p.m. and the state of the union speech live at 9:00 p.m. following the speech, the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy and hear your reaction and comments from members of congress. president trump's state of the union address tonight live on c-span. span live on the free c .adio app now today's f.c.c. open meeting on its investigation into the false emergency missile alert that happened in hawaii earlier this month. >> good morning, welcome to the january 2018, open meeting of the federal communications commission. madam secretary, could you announce our agenda. good morning to you aoo