A tax practitioner, frustrated by a six-week wait for a Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) response about a tax refund, complained to a federal watchdog. That complaint, related to a client facing financial hardship, led to a review that found the phone service provided by TAS offices across the nation was slow and inconsistent.
Overview of TIGTA findings
The review by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) of the phone lines to the 76 local TAS offices found some lines were not in service; others had full voicemail boxes; and some had inconsistent recorded scripted messages and callback time frames.
Only two offices answered the call, TIGTA's report said. Fifty-six calls went to voicemail; voicemail boxes at 16 offices were full; and two lines were not in service.
The outcomes are similar to those reported by National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins in her annual report to Congress in January 2024 and in her midyear report in June, which criticized the IRS for using a metric that she said does not accurately reflect the service that callers receive.
"Like the telephone service provided by the IRS, taxpayers who are attempting to contact local TAS offices will experience difficulties and frustration with their inability to timely obtain the assistance needed," the TIGTA report said.
TIGTA found that local TAS office voicemail messages give inconsistent time frames for how long it will take to respond to calls. The times given on local office voicemails varied from 24 hours to four weeks, TIGTA wrote.
TIGTA recommendations
TIGTA made four recommendations to TAS, including that TAS phone lines be monitored and voicemail messages responded to throughout the day; that voicemail message scripts be updated; and that the TAS and IRS websites be updated to ensure they provide consistent and accurate information.
In response to a TIGTA recommendation that local TAS offices provide a reasonable wait time for returning calls to taxpayers, TAS said local offices accounted for just 1% of TAS case receipts in the past year. That means it must balance efforts to shorten wait times against other priorities, the report said.
Still, "expecting taxpayers to wait up to four weeks for assistance is a burden on taxpayers who want, or even need, in a case of a financial hardship, to have their tax issues resolved quickly," TIGTA wrote.
The review, dated July and released Aug. 2, also found discrepancies between what was listed on the TAS website and the IRS website for phone numbers, fax lines, and local addresses.
In her response, Collins said TAS has:
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at Martha.Waggoner@aicpa-cima.com.