IRS did better than expected in tax season after slashing staff, except on the phone, watchdog says
Technology and automation helped the agency avoid a meltdown, but phone service remained weak and more than 500,000 identity-theft victims faced long waits.
- The IRS performed better than expected during the 2026 tax season, successfully issuing refunds despite significant workforce reductions, according to a report released Wednesday.
- Following layoffs directed by the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency's workforce shrank from about 102,000 to about 74,000 employees last year, led by Elon Musk.
- Despite Technology improvements preventing total meltdown, phone support struggled; only 59% of major account calls were answered, while Identity theft victims face resolution times of roughly 20 months.
- Erin Collins, who leads the IRS's independent watchdog, warned that Taxpayers needing human help were left behind, as compliance and Identity theft lines answered just 34% and 19% of calls.
- Service gaps remain a longstanding agency issue; earlier this year, Collins warned that worker exodus would continue presenting challenges for Taxpayers encountering filing problems.
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IRS did better than expected on refunds despite job cuts: Watchdog
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) performed “better than expected” on issuing refunds to taxpayers this year, the agency’s independent watchdog said Wednesday. A report to Congress from Erin Collins, the national taxpayer advocate, noted the “vast majority of taxpayers” successfully filed their returns and received their refunds “without significant delay.” During the 2026 filing season,…
IRS Generally Did Well in 2026, but Some Taxpayers Faced Challenges: Watchdog
The IRS generally performed well when handling tax returns this year for 2025, but there were some problems, a watchdog said on June 24. The IRS processed some 139 million individual tax returns, provided more than 90 million refunds, and successfully implemented major changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in a report to Congress. About 98 percent of the returns were submitted electronically, a…
Associated Press News
IRS did better than expected in tax season after slashing staff, except on the phone, watchdog says
The national taxpayer advocate says the IRS did better than expected in issuing refunds during the 2026 tax season despite massive cuts to its workforce.
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