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IRS Sets Up Taxpayer Experience Office

 

The IRS has faced more scrutiny from taxpayers this year than ever before, and for good reason!  On top of the massive backlog held by the agency & only 1 out of 9 taxpayer phone calls answered, there are a lot of really big issues that have not been addressed.  To combat this, the IRS has announced it is setting up a Taxpayer Experience Office.

What is TEO?

So what is a taxpayer experience office?  The new office will focus on “all aspects” of taxpayer interaction with the IRS.  Ken Corbin will be taking the head of the new office, while also serving as the commissioner of the Wage and Investment Division.  Mr. Corbin says, “Whether checking the status of a tax return, meeting with a revenue agent for an audit, or receiving a tax credit to their bank account, improving service delivery and customer experience are fundamental priorities for us.”  While this all sounds good and plenty, we should remember that the already overwhelmed IRS is adding another responsibility onto its plate, which will take something it currently doesn’t have, more workers.

TEO Plans

Looking to the near future, the IRS has a lot of customer service improvements they will need to fix before they get out of control.  The IRS says it plans to increase its workforce shortly to assist with its customer callback services and increase services for bilingual customers.  This is an important first step as over 250 million calls to the IRS went unanswered last tax season.  For reference of how large this is, according to the US Census Bureau, there were 258.3 million adult American citizens in 2020.

Wrap Up

While we do not know how large of an immediate impact the Taxpayer Experience Office will have, we can only hope for major improvements in the future.  IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig says, “it’s critical that we work going forward to equip the IRS to be a 21st-century resource for Americans.” One thing is for sure, last tax season was a real wake-up call for the agency, and improvements, need to come.

Will the new TEO help this tax season run smoothly? Feel free to give us a call at 516-541-6549. And don’t forget to visit our website for more news updates

 
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