Reaction to IRS Debt Collection Initiative Announcement

By Patrick Lunsford, CollectionIndustry.com

The IRS announced yesterday the three collection agencies that will begin collecting back taxes under a new private debt collection program.

Industry and government associations have already started to react to the announcement.

ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, released the following statement from Rozanne Andersen, General Counsel and Senior Vice President Legal and Government Affairs:

“We are committed to the highest standards of consumer protection and professional conduct. Private collection agencies will follow all IRS rules as well as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and all other applicable federal and state collection and privacy regulations. Taxpayers will be dealt with in a straightforward and courteous manner and will retain all the rights established by the Internal Revenue Code, including access to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service.

“For years, the private debt collection industry has played a vital role in our economy by recovering past-due accounts for U.S. companies and government agencies at the local, state and federal levels. This IRS partnership with private collection agencies will provide the federal government with effective new resources to collect delinquent taxes.”

On the other side of the fence, National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen M. Kelley described the announcement as “a sad day for America’s taxpayers.”

“These three contracts are only the tip of the iceberg that is bearing down on an unsuspecting public,” Kelley said in a release, noting that 33 private debt collection companies vied for the initial contracts from the IRS, and that the IRS plans to award as many as 10 contracts later this year.

“Taxpayers deserve much better than this program,” Kelley said. “Their personal, sensitive and private information should not be divulged by our government. Unless this unwise program is stopped, the NTEU leader warned ? and H.R. 1621, bipartisan legislation in the House, would do just that ? the floodgates will be open, and taxpayer information will be up for grabs.”

If you have any comments on the announcement, please send them to editor@collectionindustry.com.