In January, the Internal Revenue Service announced hiring 5,000 new IRS agents in preparation for the 2023 tax year. What will that mean for you as a taxpayer? Should you be expecting better service from the IRS?
New Funding Brings Changes
The IRS received an additional $80 billion in funding last year as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The additional money will help the agency run more smoothly and efficiently. The IRS expects that adding the new agents will cut taxpayer wait times on phone calls from an average of 30 minutes down to 15 minutes and that 85% of taxpayers will be able to speak with an agent directly—up from only 15% last year.
Other types of improvements that the IRS will make with their new budget include fully staffing over 300 in-person IRS service centers and creating improved online portals to submit tax returns and supporting documentation. The IRS estimates that these changes will triple the number of people who are able to receive in-person help.
Enforcement and Compliance Improvements
While the increased funding will help taxpayers get through to an agent more easily, it is not all good news. Most of the money allocated to the IRS will go toward improving taxpayer compliance and enforcing the tax code.
Years of budget cuts have left the IRS understaffed and dealing with a backlog of old returns. The agency has not had the agents necessary to conduct as many audits as they should. With the new funding, the agency will be able to review more returns and increase its rate of audits on taxpayers. However, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has instructed the IRS not to increase the audit rate of families earning less than $400,000 annually.
Get Help With Your Tax Problem
The new IRS funding means taxpayers can expect increased scrutiny of their already complicated tax issues. Get help from our team of professionals at the Highland Tax Group today to avoid problems with the IRS in the future.