pulling people off the phones: not helpful.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the latest results from the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer showed a significant shift in practitioners’ main concern this year. it used to be “late or unprepared clients.”
more: taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition | more cpas see worsening economy | has early tax season optimism peaked? | marchternity: just say ‘no’
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now “irs operations” has surged to first place, cited by 53 percent of respondents.
ouch, right? the agency charged with collecting taxes is the biggest problem for those who file tax returns for a living.
the problems at the irs are myriad, but one of the most obvious is the phones. understandably, taxpayers who haven’t got time to read the 75,000 pages of the tax code and its regulations instinctively reach for the phone to get an answer.
87 percent never got through
last year, 87 percent of the taxpayers who called one of the irs’s 62 phone lines might have been better off reading the 75,000 pages. they never got through. the lucky ones had to spend an average of 29 minutes on hold before getting shunted off to someone who all too often couldn’t answer their question.
having been pressured by the taxpayer advocacy service year after year, the irs has managed to make a few changes.
- last year some 5,000 new employees were hired as customer service representatives by the wage & investment division, where returns are generally processed.
- 31 toll-free phone lines now have customer callback technology.
- chatbots can help callers on several accounts management lines.
- chatbots on automated collection system lines can help taxpayers who owe less than $25,000.
shifting duties
long afflicted with an inadequate budget, the irs has been trying to shift csr duties to meet the demands of the moment. sometimes they answer phones. sometimes they work on tax returns. sometimes they do neither so they can train more csrs.
in her annual report to congress, national taxpayer advocate director erin m. collins points out something that should be obvious to anyone not in congress: pulling a csr off the phones to process returns only leaves more phones unanswered. and pulling a csr off returns to answer phones results in more return backlog. and having them train new people results in both problems.
“answering taxpayer phone calls and processing tax returns and correspondence are two core aspects of the irs mission that it must be able to handle,” collins wrote in her annual report. “the irs must continue to learn from the lessons of past filing seasons, to improve taxpayer service, to avoid causing self-inflicted challenges, and to not aim to achieve the highest los if it comes at the cost of creating processing backlogs.”
los stands for level of service, a percentage expressing the extent to which the irs completes a given obligation. the los for telephone service in 2019 was 56.2 percent. in 2022, it plummeted to a dismal 21.3 percent.
the drop in los was even worse for the practitioner priority line. in 2019, it was 78.3 percent. not bad! in 2022, it was 16.9 percent. very bad!
the lousy phone service resulted in yet another problem: a surge in calls to taxpayer assistance centers. some 10.8 million callers attempted to reach a tac in order to make an appointment. only 15 percent were taken care of.
a letter of common frustrations
but 2023 just might be better. the irs is aiming to reach an 85 percent overall phone los. but can they accomplish that without causing bigger refund backlogs?
a letter received by the taxpayer advocacy service from an 88-year-old mother, cited in the nta report, sums up a lot of common frustrations.
“my son died sept. 8, 2021, leaving the need for a tax return for income covering jan. 1, 2021, to sept. 7, of 2021. the return was completed by a cpa and needed fiduciary documents added, so was mailed classified to kansas city, mo, irs march 14, 2022.
“march ended, so did april and may and i became concerned there was no correspondence. then began the phone calls, emails and conversations to elicit information about the status of the return. phone call after phone call and punching numbers would get to a point and then exit without explanation. i then began a search for an appointment for someone to help me find the status of my son’s return. eventually i could get to the point of identifying [the] return and give them my identity. at that point the answer was (computer) we can’t help you and a cutoff.
“more searching brought me to an appointment with a person to help!!!! after waiting and waiting and cutoffs, ‘enough’ i said and walked into the federal building in richmond, va., in search of the irs. what i found was a huge open office space with 30-plus chairs in rows and at least eight cubicles for interviews. only one agent, one taxpayer and one young employee were there. i explained my troubles and held out my documents of proof – the girl would not look at them as she explained i must have an appointment! she took my name, told me to go home and i would have a call in 48 hours for the appointment!!!! 48 hours and on – no call! – from march to the middle of july and no one seems to care! …”
such treatment does not encourage well-meaning taxpayers to pay what they owe. quite to the contrary, it can serve as an excuse to not comply or to file an erroneous “whatever” return. the irs – and the congress that fails to fund it – should improve service if it expects voluntary compliance. it could start by answering the phone.