Our Tax Code is needlessly complex. Still, there are portions that are straightforward. Take Section 7803(c):
(3) Responsibilities of Commissioner
The Commissioner shall establish procedures requiring a formal response to all recommendations submitted to the Commissioner by the National Taxpayer Advocate within 3 months after submission to the Commissioner.
Now, that seems very straightforward to me: If the National Taxpayer Advocate (Nina Olson) make a recommendation, the Commissioner (or someone he assigns) must respond within three months. There are no ifs, ands, or buts.
Until now. From Tax Analysts (via Joe Kristan/Roth Tax Updates):
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman has no plans to respond in writing to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson’s taxpayer advocate directive (TAD) on the IRS offshore voluntary disclosure program (OVDP) despite a statutory requirement that taxpayer advocate recommendations be responded to within 90 days, Olson said February 17.
Now, if one of my clients has 90 days to respond and ignores the IRS, he loses. If I ignore my responsibilities (if I have 90 days to respond to something), I will have committed malpractice and (rightly) be sanctioned. But according to Commissioner Shulman, the law only applies to him when he wants it to apply to him.