Did you spend time on the phone with the IRS this tax year? Or are you bracing yourself to wait for some last-minute tax help? You may be pleasantly surprised with how it goes.
The IRS reports its wait time for phone calls is down to four minutes this year, well down from the 27 minute wait times callers dealt with during the 2022 tax season.
The IRS says it answered 2 million additional calls this year, helped out 100,000 taxpayers face-to-face and cleared its backlog of 2022 filings. It's quite the improvement over last year when the IRS had its worst year for customer service ever.
The IRS has made immediate use of the $80 billion that came its way as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel plans to space the funds out over the next 10 years to continue to improve service, connect taxpayers with more incentives and make better use of new technology.
The IRS will also put new focus on tax noncompliance, particularly by high-income individuals and companies. The IRS says noncompliance leaves about half a trillion dollars on the table every year.
As it spends its IRA funds, the IRS hopes it can recover an extra $180 billion "in the decade ahead."
Tax Day is Tuesday, April 18. You can file an extension online through April 18 as well, which will give you until October 16 to file your 2023 return.
