The IRS has conducted a comprehensive review of the correspondence exam process and is planning to make several changes, all of which are designed to make it easier for taxpayers and tax practitioners to communicate with the IRS.
 
In a meeting at IRS headquarters with NSA representatives and others, IRS officials revealed that pilot programs will be conducted to allow:

Virtual meetings between IRS examiners, taxpayers, and practitioners. Think Skype and similar video services. The IRS believes better use of video technology in this difficult budget environment will allow it to have better communication with the public and that the video interaction would also lead to a better understanding of the issues and more case closures.

Secure email communication with the IRS.  The procedure would require users to login to a secure web portal. Once logged in, practitioners could send emails and documents to IRS correspondence audit examiners.
 
In addition, we also learned that responders assigned to the practitioner priority service line in the correspondence exam area are now required to have at least three years of experience with the IRS.
 
In all, these are positive developments and we look forward to working with the IRS on the implementation of these and other enhancements that will make IRS communications a bit easier for tax practitioners.