Different Cultures in IRS Collection Offices

You would think that the IRS would be one big orderly institution where all of the employees are in sync on how they would handle any case. Unfortunately or maybe even fortunately, that isn't the case. I have found disparities in how the IRS handles cases particularly in Automated Collections or ACS. There seems to be different cultures in ACS in their varying locations. The offices that seems to be most prevalent when we contact them on the 1-800 # are a) Jacksonville, b) Austin, TX, c) Long Island New York (Holtsville), d) Seattle, e) Oakland, f) Denver g) Atlanta and h) Philadelphia.

Attitudes run from extremes: from agents from Atlanta indicating that "THEY DON'T RELEASE LEVIES,(!)"...TO agents in Oakland who get our clients 120 day extensions to pay even when they didn't have the ability to pay: bless them!

If we were to rank the top two offices to work with, we would have say 1. Seattle (yes, local bias), 2. Oakland. These two seem to be the most rational, least robotic and most willing to release levies against our clients. However, even these offices contain difficult personalities (occasionally) and people who follow the letter and NOT the spirit of the law. But NOT in the frequency you find in those offices NOT mentioned on this list.