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tax season Kicked off for individual filers On Monday, the agency began deploying nearly $80 billion of its funding, with a larger IRS customer service team and enhanced technology.
Over the past several months, the IRS has hired 5,000 new customer service employees, with the aim of “significantly increasing” the number of response calls, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters on Friday.
The IRS service was flagged in National Taxpayer Advocates as one of the agency’s “most serious problems”. 2022 Annual ReportOnly 13% of callers are reaching live assistance during the 2022 filing season.
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Will boost personal endorsements on the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center Across the country, the agency was put on track to “triple the number of Americans,” Adeyemo said.
The agency also plans to improve customer service through technology, including the ability for filers to respond to some IRS notices online and the ability for the IRS to scan paper returns.
“These improvements reflect how we are modernizing both technology and customer service to bring the IRS into the 21st century and how the IRS plans to implement [Inflation Reduction Act] resources in the coming years,” Adeyemo said.
Enacted in August, the Allotted Inflation Reduction Act $79.6 billion to the IRS over the next 10 years, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen outlined priorities Immediately after – such as clearing the tax return backlog, improving customer service, overhauling technology and hiring employees.
The IRS aims to give Yellen a funding plan of about $80 billion in February, according to a Treasury official.
Meanwhile, House Republicans voted in January Reduce newly enacted IRS funding After months of investigating the agency’s plans. However, the measure lacks support to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ for the IRS
The 2023 tax filing season has begun after a challenging period for the IRS. In-spite of this promised to clear the backlogAs of December 23, 2022 still had 1.91 million unprocessed individual returns, according to Agency,
However, the IRS may Prepare for a Better 2023 Filing Season After making “considerable progress” in reducing the pile-up, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in its annual report.
“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she wrote. “I’m not sure how much more traveling we have to do before we see the light of the sun.”