New IRS commissioner Danny Werfel had high praise for his agency as tax day wrapped up earlier this week. The Internal Revenue Service handled filing season a lot better than they have in the past, according to Werfel. The Commissioner credits this improvement in performance to the funding that the IRS has received as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Overview
According to a report that was released by the US Treasury Department, improvements were made this year by the agency largely in part to the $80 billion they are receiving over the next decade. The initial thought was that most of this funding would be used for enforcement and auditing. However, the agency was able to use part of this funding to hire tax professionals and improve overall service.
Data
Since the Inflation Reduction Act was implemented, the IRS hired roughly 5,000 new employees with most of them working as customer service representatives. This allowed the agency to answer 6.5 million more phone calls than last year, with 2.5 million of those calls having live assistance. New technology features have also been introduced by the IRS. These features include customer callback options, which are expected to be available to 95% of taxpayers by the beginning of August 2023.
Goals Exceeded
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had a goal for the IRS to achieve an 85% level of service for this tax season. The agency was able to exceed this goal, as they were able to achieve a level of service at 87% this year. Additionally, wait times for phone calls were expected to be around 30 minutes this year, but the IRS brought those wait times down to under five minutes. When it comes to in-person services, the agency was able to assist an additional 100,000 taxpayers face-to-face.
Scanning Technology
The agency’s new and improved scanning technology has allowed 80 times more returns to be digitalized when compared to last year’s numbers. Furthermore, the backlog of unprocessed individual tax returns from 2022 is said to be totally cleared without error.
Commissioner Statement
In a statement earlier this week, IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel said, “This marks a special time for the nation with the arrival of the tax-filing deadline. This was a big year for the IRS in many ways. The agency really had its hands full during the pandemic, handling three rounds of stimulus payments and many other changes needed to support our country and our fellow citizens.
This is really the first tax season we’ve had since 2019 where the IRS and the nation were on normal footing, so this was a test of the IRS, and I’m pleased to report that the IRS delivered a solid 2023 filing season by any measure. You can see this progress in every aspect of our operations. The IRS stepped up to help taxpayers in many different ways this tax season. The IRS has answered more calls from taxpayers seeking our help, provided more in-person assistance and offered more online.”
Wrap Up
Last year, the Internal Revenue Service achieved a dismal 15% level of service. Seeing that number being bumped up to 87% is a relief for both taxpayers and practitioners. Additionally, the new technology that was implemented has also seemed to help the agency better service taxpayers. As time goes on, we will wait and see if some of this money the IRS has received will continued to be used for positive things.