An Associated Press story about the IRS caught my eye last week.
It said that the agency believes that only 70 percent of the people who call its toll-free line for help during tax season get through to a person. And that’s assuming the IRS is meeting its goal.
Seventy percent success is unheard of if you’re baseball player, but pretty mediocre if you’re in the service business.
In her annual report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson called those numbers “unacceptable.”
In fact, the 70 percent number seemed high to me.
Being perhaps the only person in the universe who still does his own taxes, I’ve called the IRS several times over the years and am batting zero in the Talk to a Human Being Department.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been unwilling to sit on hold for 12 minutes, the average time that it takes to get through, according to Olson.
In her report, Olson turned things around, noting the IRS is planning on not answering three of every 10 calls it receives from the public. Just imagine if you were a business and you didn’t answer three out of every 10 calls.
For the IRS, that means three out of 10 callers may make avoidable errors on their returns or may not file one at all, Olson noted. She said that poor phone service is the agency’s most serious problem.
She also noted that the agency has inadequate regulation of tax preparers, something the IRS recently vowed to fix by ensuring that preparers get a license that will require testing and continuing education.
On the customer service front, Olson would like the IRS to hire enough people to ensure that 85 percent of the callers get through with an average wait of only five minutes. If that happens, I may actually start calling them again.
In a written response to Olson’s report, the IRS noted that it only has so many people available to answer the phone.
“The IRS believes a balanced delivery of services through telephone, Internet, face-to-face and correspondence ensures that our customers, regardless of the channel they choose, receive the best service possible,” the agency wrote.
To its credit, the IRS has worked hard to improve its Web site, adding more answers to frequently asked questions.
But the 70 percent figure (it was actually 71, but rounded off by the AP) is much lower than in 2004, when the percentage of callers getting through to a person reached a record 87 percent, according to Olson’s report.
While the percentage of people it’s talking with has fallen, the IRS is offering better advice these days, at least according to the IRS. It said that about 93 percent of the callers got accurate information last year, compared with only 80 percent in 2001.
“Over the last two filing seasons the IRS assisted an unprecedented number of taxpayers through toll-free telephone service, and overall taxpayer satisfaction remains extremely high,” IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge told the AP.
She said that the agency received 94 million calls on its toll-free line last year. That’s an astounding number, but not surprising. Increasing complexity and a large number of changes by Congress have raised an astounding number of questions.
If you have one, you can call 800-829-1040. Lots of luck getting through.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
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