IRS Specializes to
Help Retailers, Food &
Pharmaceuticals Industries

WASHINGTON - A newly created section of the modernized Internal Revenue Service will address the unique needs of the retail, food and pharmaceuticals industries. The IRS’s new Large and Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB) will have a special industry section devoted to Retailers, Food and Pharmaceuticals. This section, headquartered in Chicago, will serve 1,000 large businesses and 28,200 mid-sized businesses. This sector includes businesses dealing in food and beverages, retailing, pharmaceuticals, agricultural commodities and farms.

"These industries have similar financial reporting and growth patterns. Under the new IRS structure, we can build a more specialized, responsive approach for these industries. This will help us develop greater expertise and improve service for this important group of businesses," Industry Director Bob Brazzil said Tuesday.

Like the rest of LMSB, Retailers, Food and Pharmaceuticals will embrace an innovative approach to resolve taxpayer issues earlier and streamline the tax dispute process to ease burdens on business, Brazzil said. The organization will also assist taxpayers with pre-filing services to help avoid tax disputes.

This combination of factors should help reduce the cost and duration of IRS examinations, Brazzil said.

Leading the Retailers, Food and Pharmaceuticals group will be Brazzil, who is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant. He began his IRS career as a revenue agent in St. Louis. He held various management positions in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago and Baltimore before being selected for the IRS Executive Selection and Development Program. Most recently, Brazzil served as director of the IRS Illinois District. Reporting to Brazzil will be two field directors in Chicago and Southern California. Workers will be based from coast-to-coast to deal with the retailers, food and pharmaceutical industry sections.

Besides Retailers, Food and Pharmaceuticals, LMSB will be divided into four other special industry segments. In all, LMSB will serve 210,000 corporations and partnerships with at least $5 million in assets.

The change is part of the IRS’s shift from a geographic-based organization to a customer-focused agency built around the specialized needs of taxpayers.

In all, the IRS will create four Divisions, each dedicated to serving a specific group of taxpayers. Besides LMSB, the IRS will be divided between the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division; the Small Business and Self-Employed Division; and the Wage and Investment Division serving individual taxpayers.

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