The Internal Revenue Service will host the second in a series of public meetings Wednesday, Jan. 25 to gather feedback on how to implement long-term changes to the tax system to reduce burden for taxpayers.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has outlined a vision that would move the agency away from the traditional “look back” model of compliance, and instead perform substantially more “real time,” or upfront matching of tax returns when they are first filed with the IRS. 

The goal of this initiative, called the Real-Time Tax System, is to improve the tax filing process by reducing burden for taxpayers and increasing overall compliance. Under such a system, the IRS could match information submitted on a tax return with third-party information at the beginning of return processing and provide the opportunity for taxpayers to fix the tax return if it contains data that does not match IRS records. Currently, the IRS conducts a significant number of compliance activities months after the tax return has been filed and processed.  

At this public meeting, IRS officials will solicit feedback and input from outside stakeholders. This second meeting will feature representatives of large and small businesses, financial institutions, software providers and state revenue commissions. 

In the meeting on Dec. 8, 2011, IRS officials heard comments from representatives of consumer groups, tax professionals and state and federal government representatives.

The second meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Jan 25.