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Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

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Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#71

Post by anon291 »

mdorazio wrote: post #47

I’ll share my story. The IRS incorrectly sent me a fine for over a thousand dollars claiming I had filed late. I tried calling them 9 times on different days to dispute it. Within a minute of opening, end of day, middle of the day, didn’t matter. Not even a wait line, just “sorry try later.” I finally gave up and paid the damn thing then got a refund for the fine over a year later when I guess they figured out it was…

If you are an American citizen, just call your US representative. They will have you on the phone with an actual person at the IRS in a day or two.

Literally, I've learned this lesson the hard way. The moment I have to wait more than an hour or so to figure out a government service or agency, I immediately lodge a formal complaint with my representative. They have a large staff dedicated to constituent services, and they have internal connections. They also follow up, and if the agency isn't doing well, they track it.

I've literally been begged by federal agents to leave good reviews with the congressman in order that they don't get their budget cuts. It's a welcome change of pace to be speaking with an agent that wants to help me.

As an example, my son's name was mis-spelled on the birth certificate and thus social security card. We waited for three hours in an SSA office to change it but the woman did not want to help us at all, and insinuated we were committing fraud.

I had it. I called my US representative and my two Senators and e-mailed them a full portfolio of the details. Within a day, I had their office calling me with a special SSA representative on the line. They were able to make me an actual appointment for next day service at the local SSA office speaking to a much more intelligent SSA agent, who was so friendly and helpful, it was almost unbearable. The best part was, I didn't have to even wait in line or at the front desk. She took my materials, told me she will personally investigate and get back to me. Within a day, she called me back, had everything figured out and had completed several steps of the process for me.

In sum, never deal with the agencies if it's becoming antagonistic. Contact your representative. It is literally their job.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#72

Post by anon291 »

giantg2 wrote: post #35
devoutsalsa wrote: post #7

I contact my congressional representative when I need help with the IRS. Have done it twice now. Works great.

Hard to believe they actually get back to you and help. Any correspondence I've had with representatives is basically met with a form letter that doesn't even address the actual content of my concern.

If you send details about a particular case (rather than a general political issue) to their constitutent services department, they will often get back to you in a day.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#73

Post by Meekro »

Worth noting that the IRS budget has not been significantly cut -- not by Republicans or anyone else. You can see their inflation-adjusted annual expenditures over the last 10 years here[1]. Those expenditures were reduced about 7% during the Trump years, and then increased about 15% under Biden.

I guess you could say a 7% reduction is bad, but it certainly doesn't explain the disasters in their operation. And in any case, the cut has been reversed (and then some) under Biden while their functionality remains terrible.

[1] https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#74

Post by anon291 »

gmd63 wrote: post #24
greenavocado wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's thinking inside the box of extremely low-effort propaganda. The IRS is critical to stopping fraud and making sure everyone plays by the rules. Currently, we have folks not respecting the rules and getting more economic influence than they deserve. The current climate is an effective tax on honesty. As long as budget increases to the IRS increase revenue to the government, they should keep growing. If you take…

> As long as budget increases to the IRS increase revenue to the government, they should keep growing.

Why? The government is not a business. They should not be interested in 'raising revenue'. They should be interested in helping their constituents grow rich; not taking their wealth.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#76

Post by noodlesUK »

doe_eyes wrote: post #64
jmclnx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had friends and relatives who worked for the US IRS in the 80s, they all would say the IRS was the one place that budgets will never be cut, so the felt far more secure than I did in Tech. Little did they know the top 1% would get with one specific US Political Party to cut the IRS budget so thy can all cheat on their taxes. It is cheaper for them to hire lawyers than to pay their "fair share".

It's a narrative that's easy to believe in because audit rates are going down. But when you think about it... why should be they going up? In the 1980s and before, the IRS literally had no way of knowing if you're telling the truth without auditing you. Everything was done on paper, cash was king. So the audits were indiscriminate and invasive, and needed a large army of employees to orchestrate. Now, the IRS knows a…

> Now, the IRS knows almost everything about your finances. They get electronic data from your employers, your bank, your brokerage. Most of commerce is settled electronically. Paypal and Venmo send them your info if you receive more than $500 in a year. There is nothing to be gained by randomly auditing the average family if the numbers on their report match what the IRS knows. The IRS can zero in on specific activities, such as people claiming unusual business deductions. But they no longer need to routinely audit most of us, and they don't need funding to that effect.

I think that this is a solid argument for why the government should be reducing filing burdens. If they already have the vast bulk of what is needed, and they're able to rely on that to audit people in case of discrepancies, they also should allow people to file more easily (or not file at all) using that information. Many other countries, including the UK where I currently live have a system wherein the most common kinds of employment don't require filing at all. The US could become one of them if it really wanted to.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#78

Post by QuercusMax »

Zelphyr wrote: post #45
jmclnx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had friends and relatives who worked for the US IRS in the 80s, they all would say the IRS was the one place that budgets will never be cut, so the felt far more secure than I did in Tech. Little did they know the top 1% would get with one specific US Political Party to cut the IRS budget so thy can all cheat on their taxes. It is cheaper for them to hire lawyers than to pay their "fair share".

[flagged]

What kind of "families"? Crime families? Sources please.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#79

Post by mc32 »

jmclnx wrote: post #37
HillRat wrote: post #5

The IRS is a perennial budgeting football for Congress, even though it's one of the few agencies for whom increasing their budget creates positive net revenue for the federal government; its enforcement arm is down 30% in staffing since 2010, with predictably dismal results. As an anecdotal comparison, I had a fairly long-running issue years ago with the IRS over a minor problem (some expenditures got posted to one f…

I had friends and relatives who worked for the US IRS in the 80s, they all would say the IRS was the one place that budgets will never be cut, so the felt far more secure than I did in Tech. Little did they know the top 1% would get with one specific US Political Party to cut the IRS budget so thy can all cheat on their taxes. It is cheaper for them to hire lawyers than to pay their "fair share".

I am under the impression the majority of 1%ers vote for the party we don’t envision them being part of.

Things have flipped over the last decade. The populist and 1%er parties have flipped.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#80

Post by queuebert »

araes wrote: post #56

There's some other issues at the IRS. > External applications that have been received are far below the IRS targeted goal and there is an overall shortage of individuals with the desired background and experience > IRS had planned to bring on 3,833 revenue agents in fiscal 2023, but in the first six months officials had recruited just 34. [1] It seems somewhat remarkable they managed to hire 7,000 additional customer…

One job requires much more specialized training than the other. My father in law was a revenue agent, and the size of the books he had to use to do his job was astounding.
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