January 17th, 2015 by WCBC Radio
WHAG reports that there are early indications that Federal taxpayers can expect the worst customer service from the Internal Revenue Service in 14 years, according to a report by national taypayer advocate Nina Olsen. "The wait time is going to double, or they are not even going to be able to get through to help them," said Beverly Stitley, a certified tax coach. "Even once they have reached someone to help them, either by phone or by mail, any process that takes a person from the IRS to handle it – that process is going to take longer." The report indicates that taxpayers are expected to wait on hold for an average of 30 minutes, or even longer during peak times. The report attributes the issue to budget cuts, staff reduction and an increased number of tax returns. Stitley says another issue will be slow response to paper-filed tax returns. "Normally, they take six to eight weeks to process. Again, that is just going to take longer to process, and you are just going to wait until they are done," Stitley said. "They problem with the IRS is that there is nothing you can do to solve the problem – they are the only game in town." She advises taxpayers to be patient, file electronically and use other avenues for help.
.jpg)
