IRS begins using videoconferencing to meet with big businesses

The Internal Revenue Service’s Large Business and International division is starting to use videoconferencing to meet with big companies virtually to resolve their tax issues.

The move, announced Monday by the IRS, extends a practice that the agency had been using during the pandemic to meet online with individual taxpayers to offer them assistance. Starting Monday, large corporations will be able to use the secure videoconferencing program with the IRS as well. Recent guidance from September, released Monday by the IRS, Video Meetings with LB&I Taxpayers and their Representatives, requires LB&I employees to accept large business taxpayer requests for secure video meetings using IRS-approved technology instead of using an in-person or telephone discussion with a compliance function. The IRS is using WebEx and Zoom for such meetings, although Zoom can’t be used for exchanging files. The IRS is planning to later phase in use of Microsoft Teams. Internally the IRS is using Skype and Zoom among IRS and LB&I employees.

Cohn, Michael

The move reflects the ongoing transition to videoconferencing apps that have been widely in use during the pandemic by businesses and individuals alike. Government agencies like the IRS have been embracing them as well.

“The duration of the pandemic and uncertain outlook regarding the immediate future requires that we continue to take steps to meet our mission effectively while working safely,” wrote Nicole Flax, commissioner of the IRS’s Large Business and International division, in the memo. “To that end, the IRS has provided employees with avenues for engaging with taxpayers virtually. Taxpayers have told us throughout the pandemic that communication by telephone is not always adequate or productive. In lieu of meeting in person, taxpayers have expressed a desire to engage by video in certain instances. Effective Oct. 18, 2021, if a taxpayer requests a secure video meeting with IRS-approved platforms in lieu of an in-person or telephone discussion, the employee will grant such request. Employees who prefer to engage in video discussions from their post of duty rather than their telework site may do so consistent with IRS protocol on office presence.”

Last year, the IRS also began using secure email technology to help taxpayers during the pandemic. In April 2021, the LB&I division expanded the use of secure email and launched a virtual reading room to allow large companies and IRS agents to share certain privileged taxpayer documents in a read-only capacity. LB&I also expanded its use of paperless technology to move cases more quickly through the examination and resolution stages. LB&I is responsible for tax administration activities for domestic and foreign companies with a U.S. tax reporting requirement and assets equal to or exceeding $10 million, along with the IRS’s Global High Wealth and International Individual Compliance programs.