As the smoke clears from the Echelon building, and the government ministers to its traumatized employees, one group's interests are ignored--the taxpayers. 

Many of the employees who officed in Echelon I were Revenue Officers, the front line in the IRS collection efforts against delinquent taxpayers.  Revenue Officers become involved when the IRS computer decides that a taxpayer needs personal attention.  They are the ones that come to your house or place of business.  They're the ones that initiate seizure of assets.  They levy bank accounts and wages, and file liens.

As the government rightly looks to the welfare and safety of its employees, the taxpayers they are engaged in enforcement against have been forgotten, to their great detriment.  As of this morning, the IRS website included only a sympathetic press release and an assurance that the processing of tax returns (not conducted from the Echelon offices) will not be affected by the tragedy.  There is no guidance for tax professionals or self-represented taxpayers on how to proceed.

When an account reaches a Revenue Officer, that Revenue Officer becomes the only person with whom the account may be discussed.  All of the numbers for Echelon officers currently are busy.  That's understandable, of course, and no one expects these people to go on as if nothing has happened.  They are, at the very least, due some mental health time.

But the deadlines they set for their collection accounts continue to pass without any way for the taxpayer to submit the requested information, or make the required filings, or establish an installment agreement.  At best, my clients are in limbo, with penalties and interest continuing to accrue.  At worst, they are subject to liens and levies kicked out by the computer--with no one available to release them.

The collections line points me to the Revenue Officer.  The practitioner priority line points me to the Revenue Officer.  I've called Congressmen, who point me to the Taxpayer Advocate.  The Advocate points me to the Revenue Officer.

While it is vitally important that the IRS help its employees, it has forgotten, as it so often does, the people it ostensibly serves.  I have at least 20-30 of those people and businesses as my clients, unintended victims of terrorism.  And they are terrified.