WROC Rochester First
CPA Michelle Staebell of Towner Taxes discussed the Internal Revenue Service and a new plan to hire private debt collectors Monday on News 8 at Sunrise. The private debt collectors are being hired by the IRS to help pay for a new law called the FAST Act. FAST stands for Fixing America's Surface Transportation. It's estimated hiring private debt collectors would raise about $5 billion over 10 years. This would put a small dent into the estimated $280 billion worth of taxes that has gone uncollected by the IRS. The IRS is outsourcing the debt collection because of a lack of funding and manpower internally to collect back taxes. Staebell noted the IRS has always said it will never contact taxpayers initially by phone, but these private debt collectors may do so. She said the most important thing to know is that the private debt collectors hired by the IRS cannot accept payments for taxes. The payments must be made to the IRS directly.