TIGTA’s Response to IRS’ 85% Level of Service Rate: Not So Fast
11/10/2023
The tax professional community has been both confused and encouraged to see that, in numerous reports, the IRS announced meeting the Secretary of Treasury’s goal of better service to taxpayers. In its Filing Season 2023 Report Card (April 17, 2023), the IRS showed a vast improvement in customer service during the 2023 filing season:
- Average 85% level of service (LOS), callers able to speak to a telephone assistor,
- Average call wait time of five minutes or less, and
- Average 95% call-back availability.
A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that these IRS numbers are misleading.
TIGTA’s report indicates that the IRS call data is “only based upon 35 telephone lines” used to calculate its LOS performance metrics. The IRS has 102 taxpayer-facing phone lines.
TIGTA made test calls between March 10 through March 14, 2023, to evaluate the 102 telephone lines. The results were markedly different. TIGTA saw a much lower LOS, 30-minute hold times and around 50% call backs.
The IRS’ reply to TIGTA was that the 35 phone lines used in the estimate are funded by the Taxpayer Services appropriation while other phone lines are funded from other appropriations and not included in the batch.
This week, the IRS reported its expectation of another 85% LOS average for the 2024 filing season. Unfortunately, a reliance on this measure causes the weaknesses in the overall taxpayer experience to go unaddressed.
Actions Are Needed to Improve the Quality of Customer Service in Telephone Operations (tigta.gov)
Taxpayer advocate: IRS again fails tax pros with PPS call answer rate - Journal of Accountancy
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