Taxpayers are furious that only a small percentage of IRS calls get answered - and it is getting worse

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Americans who have tried to get in touch with the Internal Revenue Service know that it can be difficult to get through to speak to someone.

And during this year's tax season  only 31 percent ever successfully reached a human when they called the agency for help, a new report has revealed.

This is worse than last filing season, when 35 percent of calls were picked up by a human.

The IRS received 40 million calls during the filing season this year, which ran from January 29 to April 15.

But only 12.4 million were picked up by an IRS employee, according to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service.

Taxpayers trying to reach the IRS are typically limited to phone calls or mail. The agency's customer service became notorious during the pandemic when it was almost impossible to get help.

Since then, the agency has hired 7,000 additional customer service staff, but this has done little to resolve jammed phone lines, the report said.

This tax season only 31 percent of people successfully reached a human when they called the agency for help, a new report has revealed

Despite the frustration experienced by many taxpayers, the IRS rated its service a score of 88 percent - up from a lowly 4 percent during the pandemic.

This is calculated using measures developed by the IRS and the Treasury Department.

But Erin Collins, head of the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate Service, said that while the improvements are notable, the measure is lacking, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The IRS rating only covers 35 of its 102 customer service numbers.

It also does not count the callers who give up and hang up the phone or those immediately directed to recorded messages.

For example, less than a fifth of the 2.1 million who called the agency's collections phone line - which deals with tax debt - reached a human.

Those that did also had to wait 10 minutes to get through.

'One would expect a caller facing eviction because an IRS levy is leaving her unable to pay her rent would receive priority over a caller requesting an account transcript,' Collins said in the report.

The IRS is also inefficient in its use of existing staff, the report said.

While some particular phone lines leave taxpayers waiting, representatives on others are often 'sitting around waiting for the phone to ring,' it said.

Employees were waiting for calls for about a quarter of the time they were assigned to answer phones.

Due to outdated technology, these workers also cannot perform other tasks while waiting for calls. This means that customer service representatives were waiting for calls for slightly over 1.1 million hours during the filing season, during which time they did not assist taxpayers with other issues.

The IRS said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that it does not agree with all the methodology in the report but that phone service had improved.

'The IRS recognizes it needs to make further improvements, and the agency will continue working on this as part of the larger transformation efforts under way,' it said.

Alongside phone wait times, the report also flagged 'unconscionable' delays at the agency for resolving identity theft cases.

The IRS received around 40 million calls during the filing season this year, but only 12.4 million were picked up by an IRS employee, according to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service

The IRS has been under fire for its long wait times (Pictured: IRS commissioner Danny Werfel)

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As of April, the IRS took more than 22 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases, and had roughly 500,000 unresolved cases in its inventory, the report found.

This had worsened since the last report in January, when it was nearly 19 months.

'IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are unconscionable,' said Collins.

The report said further harm could befall identity theft victims, who are often dealing with other related issues. For instance, tax refunds can be delayed.

'These delays are particularly challenging for low-income taxpayers who may rely on these refunds to pay their day-to-day living expenses or expenses accrued throughout the year, such as medical bills.

'In addition, these identity theft victims may struggle to secure certain kinds of loans, such as mortgages,' the report said.

In response, the IRS said that 'although taxpayers continued to see major improvements from the IRS during the 2024 tax season, the IRS recognizes that the backlog of identity theft cases remains one of the most significant ongoing service gaps.'