Washington— An independent IRS monitor says the agency is still tardy in processing revised tax returns, responding taxpayer calls, and resolving identity theft cases.
The report states that “the IRS has a tall mountain to climb to achieve its goals of rebuilding the agency, modernizing its systems, and providing the quality service taxpayers deserve.” Despite excavating tens of millions of backlogged tax returns with new federal funding, there is “cautious optimism” for the agency
The federal tax collector needs to improve its processing and taxpayer correspondence despite a massive boost in funding from the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, according to Erin M. Collins' annual report to Congress on Wednesday. Collins leads the organization that protects taxpayers' rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
The taxpayer experience vastly improved during the 2023 filing season,” the paper adds. “Despite the improvement, some problems persisted and others are inevitable in a large tax system like ours. Several stand out.
IRS authorities believe the financial hike is improving taxpayer services, so the study is a reality check. GOP opponents are seeking to get some of the money back and portraying the agency as an overly aggressive tax code enforcer.
The IRS is taking nearly 19 months to handle self-reported identity theft cases, which the study labels “extraordinary delays” and “unconscionable” because a return wait can increase financial troubles.
Backlog of unprocessed corrected returns doubled from 500,000 in 2019 to 1.9 million in October. Report: taxpayer correspondence instances have more than quadrupled from 1.9 million to 4.3 million. Despite the IRS's claim of 85%, the audit states staff answered 35% of calls. The IRS does not count calls if the taxpayer hangs up before being queued.
IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told The Associated Press that the Taxpayer Advocate study “rightfully points out that we have a lot of work to do, but it also rightfully points out that this is not an overnight journey.” According to the study, the 2022 and 2023 filing seasons were “like night and day.