taxpayer bill of rights

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Taxpayer bill of rights (TABOR) broadly refers to Federal and state government initiatives to write down the rights of taxpayers in paying and disputing tax obligations. In 1988 and amended in 1996, Congress enacted a Federal TABOR which specified how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can collect taxes and the ways taxpayers can challenge IRS decisions. The IRS has changed the internal revenue code - 26 U.S. Code § 7803(3) to rephrase the rights of the previous acts into ten broad rights:

  1. The right to be informed
  2. The right to quality service
  3. The right to pay no more than the correct amount of taxes
  4. The right to challenge the IRS’s position and be heard
  5. The right to appeal an IRS decision in an independent forum
  6. The right to finality
  7. The right to privacy
  8. The right to confidentiality
  9. The right to retain representation
  10. The right to a fair and just tax system

For more information on the Federal TABOR, see the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service.

[Last updated in October of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]