Starting in September, the IRS is contracting with outside debt collectors to go after delinquent taxpayers. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 authorized the IRS to contract with private firms to do this work. The three firms currently under contract to perform these services are The CBE Group Inc., Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, and Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc.

The Jobs Creation Act also included provisions to ensure that the debt collection agencies abide by the IRS’s strict privacy rules. While the private firms will be attempting to collect the overdue taxes, they are not authorized to take enforcement actions such as liens, levies or seizures. They are also not to be involved in offers in compromise, bankruptcies, hardship issues or litigation.The firms are simply assigned cases in which taxpayers have not disputed the tax liabilities.

By the end of 2006, approximately 40,000 taxpayers with overdue federal [tag]taxes[/tag] will be contacted by one of three debt collection agencies. By 2008, the IRS expects to have contracts with 10 debt collection firms.

5 Comments

  1. […] Tracy Coenen at Sequence Inc. reports that the IRS is using outside debt collectors. One has to wonder whether these debt collectors will be able to maintain the IRS’s standards of bureaucratic action. […]

  2. […] Tracy Coenen lets us know that the IRS is using outside debt collectors. If the debt collectors were more closely regulated, I would back the usage of outside collectors, but since it’s like the wild west in debt collection land, I would feel more comfortable with the IRS taking care of it’s own business. […]

  3. John Wilks 11/06/2006 at 12:10 pm - Reply

    Great to know this. Thank you.

  4. Mangrove Root Gang 11/06/2006 at 2:38 pm - Reply

    Perhaps the private firms will be more efficient than the government authorized agency itself at recouping lost revenue. Or, perhaps, the private firms will be seduced by the dark side and become yet another mouth clenched on the teat of the taxpayer.

  5. Barbara Ann Jackson 03/16/2008 at 2:59 pm - Reply

    re: Debt Collectors’ Fraudulent Judicial Foreclosure Filings; ‘Rogue debt collectors’ by Jen Haley -CNN; and Shortcomings of IRS’s debt collection program

    Far too often, bottom lines in debt collection results in: Unjust enrichment and windfalls for debt collectors; abusive, illegal oppression, and harassment toward people owing debts; and no significant revenue for the agencies which hire those collectors. (Disturbingly, as it pertains to cities under jurisdiction of the Federal Fifth Circuit, debt collection fraud and abuse is rewarded!) Furthermore, foreclosure fraud by debt collectors is a primary culprit of this Nation’s mortgage and real estate crisis.

    A rational look at overall results from use of debt collectors shows that neither agencies which hire them, nor the people from whom debts are collected are better off. As proven from the Tax Payer Advocate analysis presented to the IRS, only $31 million in revenue of IRS’s $185 million projection has been realized.-“IRS Tax Advocate Renews Criticism of Private Collectors”
    http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200803131508DOWJONESDJONLINE000968_FORTUNE5.htm

    DEBT COLLECTION fraud facilitates fraudulent real estate flipping. And real estate foreclosures are bonanzas of deceptive lending because flipping enables misleading INVESTORS concerning housing market profits. In fact, because of FRAUDULENT FORECLOSURE PROCEEDINGS, scores of people HAVE NOT LAWFULLY lost ownership of their properties, and legally are STILL THE OWNERS, but they do not know it. Even worse, some homeowners are being sued under “DEFICIENCY” judgments although the foreclosure itself is null.

    Because WELLS FARGO and FREDDIE MAC greatly benefit from fraudulent foreclosures in States like Louisiana, ANY representation about $$$ billion dollar losses due to people defaulting on mortgages should be weighed against needless payments of legal fees to law firms which outmaneuver -and even persecute people who file court proceedings in opposition to fraudulent foreclosures and repossessions. No results came from constituents’ reports and allegations to our local members of the U.S. Congress about Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac. However, even
    Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., spoke years ago of Freddie Mac’s activities as “entering ENRON territory” for which there was reason to “be gravely concerned.” See:
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/09/national/main557688.shtml

    Despite the many probes into factors of the mortgage crisis, there has been almost no investigation of the most lethal mortgage mess component: DEBT COLLECTION ABUSE and JUDICIAL COLLUSION. The Feds need to seek the whereabouts of perhaps billions of dollars and massive amounts of real estate that winds up in the collector attorneys’ possession -as well as examine the scores of attorney bankruptcy court frauds.

    Those debt Collector Attorneys deliberately file foreclosures naming defunct mortgage companies, or companies which no longer hold the notes; or affix collectors’ fees exceeding “Acceleration Clauses.” If homeowners sue for “Unfair Debt Collection Practices,” collectors make more $$ through protracted litigations. Additionally, some collectors file in Bankruptcy Court falsified motions to “Lift Stay” pleadings for purposes of accomplishing SIMULATED AUCTIONS of real estate properties.

    For a purported debt of $86,000.00, through use of a non-existent mortgage company, attorneys racked up more than a quarter of a million dollars in litigation fees. Later, the property was sold to a 3rd party for $37,000.00. Investors got nothing, nothing practical was accomplished by evicting the homeowners, and neighborhood property values declined.

    Also, as an added measure to heighten chances of judicial favor, collector attorneys propagate that defaulted property owners are costing their clients a lot of money, while the true culprit is collectors’ fraud and racketeering. Exploiting distressed property owners for purposes of making money from their predicaments and then lying on them to the courts has to be the cruelest exploitation and
    maligning against people faced with becoming homeless!

    In August 2005,Freddie Mac evicted Louisiana property owners because Freddie Mac falsely claims to have purchased their property in year 2005, from a mortgage company which has been defunct since year 2002. **See Proof at:
    http://www.lawgrace.org/2008/01/05/united-states-chief-justice-robert%e2%80%99s-aim-to-raise-to-raise-federal-judges-pay-is-revolting-new-orleans-federal-judiciary-call-to-impeach-judge-g-thomas-porteous/ *Also posted at lawgrace.org is the “successor in interest” Affidavit for that DEFUNCT mortgage company.
    _____________________________________
    Here’s a few more links:

    -“Rogue debt collectors — how to fight them” by Jen Haley -CNN
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/02/29/rogue.debt.collectors/

    -Mortgage Mess, Foreclosure Fraud and Impediments to Justice
    http://newsblaze.com/story/20071203130614tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.

    -ILLEGAL REAL ESTATE FLIPPING…
    http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/06/21/illegal-real-estate-flipping-unfair-enrichment-etc/

    -Comment on the Foreclosure of Judge Reginald Badeaux’s Home
    http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/12/08/my-december-7-2007-comment-posted-to-the-times-picayune-blog-about-the-news-article-entitled-%e2%80%9cjudge-gets-debt-reprieve-badeaux-has-skipped-mortgage-payments%e2%80%9d-the-foreclosure-of-this-lo/

    -Federal Judges’ Pay Raise; New Orleans Federal Judiciary Call To Impeach
    http://newsblaze.com/story/20080101084831tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html
    =====================================================================
    Barbara Ann Jackson
    Law & Grace, Inc

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