Why IRS customer service is bad (and may get worse)

[unhappycamper]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101339980



The problem.

Why IRS customer service is bad (and may get worse)
Published: Monday, 20 Jan 2014 | 7:00 AM ET
By: Allison Linn | CNBC Senior Business and Economics Reporter

If you have a question about your taxes, here's a tip: Be prepared to be very patient.

The Internal Revenue Service answered a smaller share of taxpayer calls and kept taxpayers on hold longer last year than in other recent years, a new report finds. What's more, budget cuts could make it hard for taxpayers to get help this year as well.

The IRS could answer only 61 percent of the calls it received from taxpayers during the 2013 fiscal year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson said in a report released to Congress on Jan. 9.

That means that the rest of the calls—about 20 million—just didn't get through, the independent taxpayer advocate said.

[left is right]

1. it is important to remind citizens the reason for the greater inefficiency at the IRS

Budget cuts for several years in a row

[grasswire]

2. my husband's first job out of college was IRS agent.

The new agents were put on customer service as a way of training them. They often played a game of "hang-up" to see how many people a day they could hang up on. I'm sure that agents aren't used for cust serv these days, though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Does that mean fewer audits?

basically, "nothing works"
except drone killings, crony politics and banker theft on a massive scale.

got it.