According to Bloomberg News,
Tax preparer Jan Roberg rang what she calls the “bat phone”: a dedicated customer service line at the Internal Revenue Service that’s supposed to connect professionals like her to a human right away. She was put on hold, as she figured she would be. So she went to the Burger King next to her office to pick up lunch.
She was still on hold when she got back. “Even five years ago, I would get through right away,” says Roberg, of St. Louis. Now it typically takes more than an hour.
Reaching the IRS has always been an exercise in patience. But years of budget cuts have pushed the agency to the limit. Its customer service workforce has shrunk more than 40% since 2010, according to the most recent data, and the agency is struggling to fill vacancies amid a labor shortage—handcuffed by a federal pay scale that starts college graduates at little more than fast-food wages.
IRS representatives answered fewer than 1 in 10 phone calls during the 2021 tax-filing season, according to National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, who heads an independent arm of the agency designed to help taxpayers resolve problems. Even in off-peak periods the agency is answering only about 4 in 10.
Click here to see the full article: Customer Service at the IRS Is So Bad, Even Tax Pros Are Fed Up.
Posted by Isabella King, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
Wealth Strategies Journal 