As announced in July 2023 and shared in the IRS Tax Tip 2023-98, the IRS will stop the unannounced visits. Note that there has been numerous cases of fraud with people impersonating IRS agent by mail, by phone and in person requesting outstanding tax liabilities or requesting payments to avoid liens or criminal charges.

The IRS indicated the following points on what to expect going forward:

  • In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will instead contact taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a meeting.
  • Taxpayers whose cases are assigned to a revenue officer will now be able to schedule face-to-face meetings at a set place and time, allowing taxpayers to gather the necessary information and documents before the meeting to help reach resolution of their cases more quickly.
  • The IRS is updating IRS.gov and internal guidance to conform to this policy.

Note that in general when the IRS sends a notice to have a face to face meeting, the meeting might be in the IRS office closer to the business, or in some cases to the office of the tax professional, or the business location.

Additionally, there might be extreme situations where the IRS might still show unannounced such as service of summonses and subpoenas, sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, and other similar cases.