2.6 Communicating with the IRS

A few tips for more effective communications with IRS employees:

• Keep copies of any documents sent to the IRS.
• Reference or include the IRS notice or letter to which you are responding.
• Write the client’s Social Security Number on each submitted document.
• Only use certified mail when necessary to protect a deadline, e.g., amended return, an election, or where there would be an adverse action if no the taxpayer does not respond.
• Generally, limit contents of a mailed submission to one tax year (e.g., if mailing three separate tax returns, use three different envelopes). 
• When citing “law” to IRS employees, it is more effective to cite to the Internal Revenue Manual (“I.R.M.”) or IRS Publications than to case law.