Tax Advocate's Annual Report to Congress

[Lee B]

Excerpts from the report that caught my attention:   https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2023-annual-report-to-congress/

"Extraordinary delays in assisting victims of identity theft. At the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023, nearly half a million taxpayers with cases pending in the IRS’s Identity Theft Victims Assistance (IDTVA) unit were waiting an average of almost 19 months for the agency to resolve their identity theft problems. "

"Delays in processing amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence. Despite the IRS’s success in eliminating its backlog of paper-filed Forms 1040, backlogs in processing amended individual income tax returns (Forms 1040-X), amended business tax returns and correspondence continued. At the end of calendar year 2019 (the most recent pre-pandemic year), the IRS’s backlog of unprocessed amended returns stood at 0.5 million. By comparison, the backlog as of late October 2023 was 1.9 million – nearly four times as much.

Taxpayer correspondence and related cases more than doubled over the same period, from 1.9 million to 4.3 million. In addition, the percentage of correspondence cases classified as “overage” in 2023 reached its highest level in recent years, with nearly 70% of pending cases exceeding normal processing times as of late October. "

 For the 2023 filing season, Treasury set a goal of achieving an 85% “Level of Service” (LOS) on the IRS’s toll-free telephone lines, and that required staffing the telephone lines at levels capable of handling most calls during peak periods. However, the report says that meant CSRs often were “simply sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.” During the 2023 filing season alone, CSRs spent 1.27 million hours (34% of their time) waiting to receive calls. That translates to more than 650 unproductive staff years in which these employees could have been processing paper and reducing response times for amended returns and correspondence."

 

It sounds llke the IRS has been playing "Whack A Mole" 

They shifted staff to answering the phones  since that was what everyone was upset about. 

[mcb39]

I have at least one major client who has not received his e-filed 2022 refund yet.  Notation on website says "Pending"  Telephone calls say "Pending".  Neither the client nor I have been able to speak with an actual live person as of up to yesterday.  Please advise.

[kathyc2]

5 minutes ago, mcb39 said:

I have at least one major client who has not received his e-filed 2022 refund yet.  Notation on website says "Pending"  Telephone calls say "Pending".  Neither the client nor I have been able to speak with an actual live person as of up to yesterday.  Please advise.

I had one like that a couple years ago.  He contacted the office of his Senator and had the refund in a couple weeks.  I don't know if it was just coincidence or if her office actually did something to get it moving. 

[Lee B]

Members of the Senate and the House have priority access to the Tax Advocate's taxpayer assistance service.

[Lee B]

44 minutes ago, mcb39 said:

I have at least one major client who has not received his e-filed 2022 refund yet.  Notation on website says "Pending"  Telephone calls say "Pending".  Neither the client nor I have been able to speak with an actual live person as of up to yesterday.  Please advise.

The Tax Advocates Assistance Tool   https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/can-tas-help-me-with-my-tax-issue/

Form 911   https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f911.pdf

 

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

I had one in '22, ('21 return), refund was approx 4,500.00.  Less than 10 days after e-filing, they had a direct deposit of 1,528.43.  The timing, and amount, led us both to believe it was for something else - ID theft, previous year, etc.  No explanation could be found and no other money was received in the "refund" window.

Eight or ten months later, they received a direct deposit that made the total equal 4,500.00 + interest.  (Subsequent 1099 from Treasury confirmed this.)  To date, there has been no correspondence, (explanation), from the IRS.

 

[mcb39]

It has been pretty apparent that when the IRS does correct a return; their explanation of correction is slim to none.  This particular client has been threatening to call his Senator or Rep.  I will tell him to go ahead and do it. Thanks to all of you.  This situation has been a really sore subject this year as I also prepare this client's Sales Tax returns and have some of his bookkeeping on my computer.  He also has a short fuse and isn't the best at keeping records,, but we have worked with him for many years and have him doing his bookkeeping  on Quicken; which is an extreme advantage.   He is retired County Law Enforcement.

[mcb39]

23 hours ago, Lee B said:

The Tax Advocates Assistance Tool   https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/can-tas-help-me-with-my-tax-issue/

Form 911   https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f911.pdf

 

Thank you Lee.  We will move forward with this information.

[Lee B]

If you contact a member of Congress, you will need to have all of your documents  assembled