Taxpayer Experience Office

 In the news this week the IRS unveiled a new Taxpayer Experience Office as part of a long-term plan to improve customer service issues. The office will focus on “all aspects of taxpayer transactions,” working closely with the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which is an independent organization within the IRS. Taxpayers may see near-term boosts to customer call back, payment options, two-way messaging and multilingual services. The announcement comes during a time when the IRS is behind, still grappling with a backlog of millions of unprocessed returns from the 2020 tax year. However, advocates say the IRS needs sustained, long-term funding to improve technology and customer service issues. The office was proposed in a 2021 report to Congress, calling for more than 100 different programs and tools, including increased account access, more e-file and payment options, digital signatures, secure two-way messaging and more. A National Taxpayer Advocate in testimony before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, said “To meet basic taxpayer service needs, the IRS requires additional funding in its taxpayer services account to improve return processing, correspondence processing and telephone service”. So there’s more work to be done and we’ll keep you updated. Everyone is aware that the IRS needs help to meet the needs of taxpayers and hopefully this “Taxpayer Experience Office” makes a difference, time will tell.