Freedom of Information Act Documents

The usual documents tax payers request under the federal Freedom of information act are shown below. The Freedom of information act documents requests are made to the IRS.

• A copy of the IRS agent's report. This report is created when an IRS tax audit produces additional changes to the tax returns under examination.

   

• Any statements, whether oral or written, made by the tax payer to an IRS employee.

   

• The transmittal letter that is used to send the file from the Examination Division to the Appeals Division. This letter may contain valuable information about the case from the IRS 's perspective.

   

• Any third party records (such as bank statements, credit card invoices, business receipts) involved in the tax payer 's audit.

   

• A special IRS agent's report (if a criminal investigation took place and is over). If the criminal investigation is still ongoing, the IRS cannot be forced to turn over any records.

   

• Copies of the tax payer 's tax returns for any years involved in an IRS tax audit or IRS tax collection dispute. Copies of tax returns can also be requested from the IRS service center where the tax payer tax returns were filed by filling out and filing Form 4506 with the IRS service center.

   

• The IRS agent's work papers, along with the index to the IRS tax audit file (although the IRS may refuse to disclose these documents as being privileged).

   

• The IRS agent's time log and daily activity record. These records will show what the IRS has done with respect to an IRS tax audit and when the IRS tax audit was done.