What significant hardship means
Internal Revenue Code section 7811 and its Treasury regulation use significant hardship for a taxpayer who is suffering or is about to suffer serious harm because of the manner in which the IRS is administering the tax laws. The standard supports the Taxpayer Advocate Service’s casework and the possible use of a Taxpayer Assistance Order.
The statute includes an immediate threat of adverse action, a delay of more than 30 days in resolving account problems, significant costs if relief is not granted, and irreparable injury or a long-term adverse impact. TAS also uses broader case criteria involving economic burden, systemic burden, fair and equitable treatment, and public policy.
Examples in practice
Possible facts include an impending eviction or utility cutoff while a needed refund is delayed, a levy that threatens basic living expenses, repeated IRS delays beyond normal processing time, a missed promised response date, substantial professional costs caused by an unresolved IRS failure, or a process that is impairing taxpayer rights.
The seriousness and connection to IRS administration matter. Ordinary inconvenience, disagreement with the tax law, or a desire for faster service does not by itself establish significant hardship.
Significant hardship is not automatic relief
A finding of significant hardship does not automatically require TAS to issue a Taxpayer Assistance Order or grant the taxpayer’s requested outcome. TAS must also determine that the facts and law support the action. A Taxpayer Assistance Order can direct permitted IRS action, cessation, review, or expedition, but the National Taxpayer Advocate cannot use it to make a substantive tax-liability determination that belongs to another process.
Different from levy “economic hardship”
TAS materials distinguish its economic burden criteria from the term economic hardship used in the levy-release rules of Internal Revenue Code section 6343. The concepts can overlap, but they are not interchangeable legal tests. A taxpayer should identify the exact IRS procedure involved.
How the term appears on Form 911
Form 911 requests TAS assistance and also serves as an application for a Taxpayer Assistance Order. The taxpayer describes the federal tax problem, the difficulty it is causing, and the assistance requested. TAS—not WhatDoIFile—decides whether the facts meet its criteria and whether an order or another advocacy step is appropriate.
Official sources
- U.S. Code — 26 U.S.C. § 7811
- eCFR — 26 CFR 301.7811-1
- IRS Internal Revenue Manual — TAS case criteria
- IRS — Form 911