IRS Too Busy To Help! Agency Will Offer Busy Signal To 30% Of Callers

[Amerigo Vespucci]

IRS Too Busy To Help! Agency Will Offer Busy Signal To 30% Of Callers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/irs-too-busy-to-help-agen_n_413194.html

Callers lucky enough to get through will have to wait on hold an average of nearly 12 minutes, a level of service deemed unacceptable in a report issued Wednesday by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson.

"In other words, the IRS is planning to be unable to answer about three of every 10 calls it receives," said Olson, an independent watchdog within the IRS.

Such poor service, she said, "will cause problems for taxpayers and the IRS alike, as some taxpayers give up and don't bother to file or they make avoidable errors that the IRS then must devote resources toward resolving."

The IRS said it has been inundated with an unprecedented number of calls the past two years from taxpayers with questions about temporary tax breaks passed by Congress to help revive the economy – a phenomenon that is expected to continue this year.

To help, the agency has upgraded its Web site, posting answers to frequent questions, including the status of tax refunds.

[NightWatcher]

1. I averaged 25-30 minutes per transfer the past two days

I tried to call an area directly and could only reach it through transfers from the main 800# and each time it would take 25 minutes to get to each operator to transfer me to the next one......

Once I got to the person who could help, it only took 10 minutes to resolve.....and it did get resolved.

[fizzgig]

2. i'm on hold with them right now

but i'd rather be on hold with them rather than with unemployment. i spent nearly two and a half hours on hold with them a few months ago.