Friday, January 08, 2010
For the third year in a row, the Internal Revenue Service is expected to answer fewer calls from taxpayers seeking answers about their taxes. In 2007, IRS customer service representatives managed to answer 83% of all incoming calls—in 2008, the rate dropped to 77%, and by last year, it fell to 64%. However, according to the inspector general for the Department of the Treasury, the 2009 rate was really less than 50%.
The IRS is promising to answer 71% of calls in the 2010 tax season. But callers will have to wait an average of 12 minutes to get through, according to a report by IRS ombudsman Nina Olson.
Olson also found that the agency did not collect as many delinquent taxes over the past three years as previously declared—$32 billion to be exact.
Furthermore, Olson criticized the IRS overuse of liens against people owing taxes. She said the agency automatically files liens against delinquent taxpayers without first determining if they own any property. This habit does little good for the IRS, and can cause huge problems for taxpayers, damaging their credit scores and employment prospects, which only further hampers their ability to pay the government what they owe.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
IRS Expects to Answer Only 71% of Phone Calls This Tax Season (by David S. Hilzenrath, Washington Post)
IRS Toll-Free Telephone Service is Declining as Taxpayer Demand for Telephone Service is Increasing (Internal Revenue Service) (pdf)
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