Get this: You may have a friend at the Internal Revenue Service you never knew you had.

It's the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office within the IRS that's responsible for helping taxpayers who are unable to resolve tax issues short of hiring a tax lawyer.

And it has worked for one motorcoach operator, not once, but twice.

Now that might not sound very likely, but Jolynn Anderson, who co-owns Huntsville, Ala.-based Spirit Coach with her brother, insists it's true. She says a tax advocate can be of real service.

Getting her problem resolved, wasn't easy, even with the assistance of an advocate. It still required a great deal of persistence and patience.

Anderson, who lives in Texas, spent months dueling with the IRS over her 2006 tax refund. IRS tax collectors questioned her claim for the 17-cents-a-gallon rebate on the diesel fuel tax her company paid to run its 11 coaches during the year.

"I sent in the quarterly fuel tax forms, but that did not satisfy them," she said.

Instead, the IRS demanded copies of all of the company's fuel receipts. It took her office staff several days to round them up - they weighed more than five pounds - and get them in the mail.

A few weeks later, however, she was informed her time for working out the problem had expired and she now would have to hire a tax lawyer to appeal her case in federal Tax Court.

"All of this came about because it took the Memphis office over three weeks to get my packet of receipts from the mailroom to the examiner," she said. "It weighed over five pounds so it wasn't a package that could easily be lost."

Anderson said she was so frustrated she dashed off a letter to the head of the IRS. Her complaint was turned over to the advocate service office in Houston and an advocate contacted her ready to help.

"The advocate was extremely helpful, kept me up to date with what was happening, and finally called me to say all had been cleared," she said. "I received the refund, plus 8 percent interest."

Still, things were not quite over for her.

The day before she received the good news that her 2006 refund was in the mail, the IRS notified her that it was now auditing her 2005 tax return, again because of the diesel tax credit.

That put the advocate back to work and, although Anderson again was required to mail copies of all of her fuel receipts, the problem was resolved a bit quicker this time and the IRS dropped the review.

"If it had not been for the advocate, I probably would have hired a lawyer to get me through the process.

In addition to the hassle over the tax issue, Anderson said she wasted a great deal of time early on searching for the right people at the IRS who could help her. Twice the IRS agents gave her the wrong telephone numbers when referring her to others at the agency and a third time they told her they had no idea how she could reach her advocate because the woman was new and they were unable to find her telephone number.

She was frustrated further because several of the agents she spoke with were not familiar with the diesel fuel tax credit and how it applied to her case.

"It was not that the people were not courteous, they were just uneducated in what they were supposed to be examining," she added.

Anderson said the experience was "eye opening," and she warns other operators that the IRS appears to be taking a closer look at the diesel fuel tax credits these days.

"Be sure you have not only the quarterly reports, but availability of copies of all fuel receipts and be sure that the reports match the receipts," she suggested.

"Pay close attention to the timelines given to you by the IRS because they are very upfront that these do not change."

And, equally important, she stressed, be sure to use the services of the advocate's office.

To find out more about the advocate service and to locate the office serving your state, go to www.irs.gov/advocate and click on "Who May Use the Taxpayer Advocate Service," or "Contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service."

Information also is available by calling (877) 777-4778.