As I was looking around on the redesigned IRS website today, I came across the “Understanding your IRS Notice of Letter” page and was reminded how much I like it.  It features a table of IRS notices organized by notice number, and including a short description of the notice content in plain language.  This is a good resource for taxpayers who have no idea what they received in the mail and who just need a tax relief starting point.  And it’s nice that the IRS is making changes to its notices and letters so they are easier to understand, even though the most common phrase on these notices is:

You owe money on your taxes as a result of these changes.

Coincidentally, I did come across a couple notices that seem to suggest that the IRS is looking out for the taxpayer by pointing out tax advantages that were not claimed:

CP08 – You may qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit and be entitled to some additional money.

CP09 – We’ve sent you this notice because our records indicate you may be eligible for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), but didn’t claim it on your tax return.

But somehow I doubt anybody ever gets this kind of notice!