New Offer in Compromise Numbers

Well the new numbers are out at the IRS. The 2003 collection statistics show a frightening trend about offers in compromise and confirms what I have expected for some months now. The leadership at the Centralized Offer in Compromise unit at the Internal Revenue Service is working day and night to come up with ever more creative ways to reject or return an offer in compromise and the newly released numbers prove it.
These numbers are in thousands:
Year |Received |Accepted |Percent |Amount
1999 | 105 | 31 |32%|N/A
2000 | 109 | 32 | 29% | $316,214
2001 | 125 | 39 | 31% | $340,778
2002 | 124 | 29 | 23% | $300,296
2003 | 128 | 26 | 20% | $243,942

So the word from the insiders is that the IRS does not like offers in compromise so the Centralized Offer in Compromise employees are being told to find any way they can to return or reject the offer. Is this what Commissioner Everson wants? What about congress? Wonder if they know that choking off the flow of accepted offers in compromise cost the taxpayers $137,000,000 in a 24 month period. Who is running the IRS???