TAS Not Happy with IRS Future Plan

TAS Not Happy with IRS "Future Plan"

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The IRS is devising nefarious plans behind our backs. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s (TAS) annual report to Congress, for the past year and a half the IRS has been developing a “future state” plan whereby it will drastically cut back on the face-to-face and telephone assistance it provides to taxpayers. This isn’t really new; the IRS has for some time now been trying to redirect taxpayers and point them towards irs.gov to find answers to their questions because they don’t have sufficient funding and they don’t have sufficient personnel to provide one-on-one help to everyone who seeks it. The only difference now is that they appear to be doing something about it, albeit secretively.

Implicit in the plan — and explicit in internal discussion — is an intention on the part of the IRS to substantially reduce telephone and face-to-face interaction with taxpayers.

~ TAS 2016 Annual Report to Congress

Nina Olsen, head of TAS, stated that these plans should be made public so that taxpayers and tax professionals can have their voices heard and so they can be prepared for whatever changes come their way. Also, she says, the IRS needs to be specific about how much it will be cutting back on personal service. So far the IRS has done nothing to make their “future state” plan public or to solicit comments and input from stakeholders.

The IRS contends that TAS is misjudging their “future state” plan. According to the IRS, as they beef up alternative “self-service interactions,” it frees up phone lines for those who are not comfortable with online resources. The problem with this line of thinking is it assumes that those who call the IRS are not comfortable with researching their issue on the IRS website. I think the number of people who avoid the IRS website because they don’t have a computer or they don’t know how to research an issue online is relatively small. If people have specific questions and they think they can find the answer online, they’ll look online. But if they need a dialogue or if they have a series of question, or if they have a unique set of fact (which is very common), or if they need something more than a cookie cutter black & white answer, then they turn to the phone. I have been involved in the tax industry, and more specifically tax resolution, for about 10 years, and can confidently say that if there is any chance I can find the help I need on the IRS website, I will definitely go there before dedicating an entire afternoon to the IRS telephonic abyss.

IRS Asks for Patience

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The IRS issued an “Operations Resumption Statement” last week on its website after opening its doors back up on October 17th.  The IRS wants taxpayers and tax professionals to know that that they are aware of the backlog that has resulted from the 16-day shutdown:

At this point, we know we received a large amount of correspondence during the closure. We know there will be a substantial increase in demand for our phone services and many other operations

In other words, “stop reminding us about the delays and long hold times; we know we have problems right now.”

The IRS also acknowledged that it will take time for the call centers and walk-in assistance centers to ramp up to normal levels of operation.  Since they are still assessing the damage caused by the government shutdown, there is no way to estimate how long the ramping up process will take.  I would guess that things will be slow for several weeks, perhaps even a couple months.  This is based on my experience as a tax attorney over the years.  Even one day off at the call centers often has residual effects on hold times and mail processing times.  A 16-day shutdown is unprecedented and we have no way of knowing when the IRS will be back to “normal” at this point.

In light of the enormous backlog that the IRS has committed to focus on over the next several weeks, the IRS has asked that taxpayers and tax professionals delay or limit their contacts with the IRS except in urgent situations.  Of course, after 16 days many of the issues that could have been considered non-urgent have now been upgraded to higher levels of urgency.  And I think the IRS realizes that too.  They just ask for our patience right now.  Ask anyone who deals with the IRS on a regular basis — if there is anything we know, it’s patience.

Government Shutdown: Residual Effects on IRS

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The effects of the “government shutdown” have been far-reaching and I’m certain we will feel the effects for months to come, even if everything is switched back on soon.

In IRS world, even one day off tends to cause residual delays and bottle-necks.  For example, when the IRS observes a national holiday and shuts down on a Friday or a Monday, the work tends to pile up, making it more difficult for taxpayers to get help for the following couple business days.  This is especially true in the IRS call centers where they have little control over work flow.  A salaried employee, such as an IRS revenue officer, can put in extra time before a day off so that work doesn’t pile up too much.  But the work flow of an hourly call center employee is more dependent on the volume of inbound taxpayer phone calls.

The IRS always experiences high call volumes on Mondays and days following holidays because IRS problems don’t just go away on their own.  If you can’t get through to the IRS on one day, you’ll probably try again as soon as possible.  And I don’t feel like the IRS hold times have ever really recovered to what they once were before the IRS began furloughing employees earlier this year.  But now we are talking about an unprecedented closure of several days in a row (and how many more, we do not know).  I would not be surprised if the residual effects of the IRS shutdown are felt well into 2014.