POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

IRS Needs to Work Better with Its Workers

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Training? Inadequate. Best recruitment method? Who knows?

By CPA Trendlines Research

Here’s an idea: ditch your CPA practice and go work for the IRS.

If you can figure out the job application process, you’ve already proven yourself adept at bureaucracy.

MORE: Why ITIN Applications Get Delayed | The Ouches of the Tax ‘Practitioner’ Scam | Could the IRS Do Better with the Phones? | IRS Sluggish on Identity Theft | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Check These 41 Items on Business Tax Returns | IRS Must Speed Up Tax Return Processing | First Tax Filing Reports Are In | Cut Down Your Tax Work in Progress | Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix
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Despite that preliminary qualification, you’ll have to take a pay cut of 20-30 percent, but in as little as three years, they’ll have you trained for your job.

And with a little luck, you won’t have a boss, given that a quarter of all director positions are vacant or temporarily filled.
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Why ITIN Applications Get Delayed

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… and why they don’t have to.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Every year, more than a million taxpayers apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. These are people who, for various reasons, can’t get a Social Security number. These include

  • resident aliens with a “green card.”
  • foreign students who are allowed to earn a certain amount.
  • people in foreign countries who are required to pay U.S. taxes.
  • non-American spouses and other dependents of primary taxpayers who have SSNs.

MORE: The Ouches of the Tax ‘Practitioner’ Scam | Could the IRS Do Better with the Phones? | IRS Sluggish on Identity Theft | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | IRS Must Speed Up Tax Return Processing | First Tax Filing Reports Are In | Cut Down Your Tax Work in Progress | Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down
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Delays and Disaster

The ITIN application process is an invitation for fraud, so the IRS is very careful in receiving and approving applications.
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The Ouches of the Tax ‘Practitioner’ Scam

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And two steps to protect taxpayers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

In case you haven’t noticed, the world has no shortage of scammers. If don’t believe it, check your email inbox and spam folder. Count the Nigerian widows, the miracle pills, the fake invoices, the contests you’ve won and all the other attempts to rob you.

MORE: Could the IRS Do Better with the Phones? | IRS Sluggish on Identity Theft | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Check These 41 Items on Business Tax Returns | IRS Must Speed Up Tax Return Processing | First Tax Filing Reports Are In | Cut Down Your Tax Work in Progress | Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down | Help Tax Clients Help You | Art Werner: Beneficial Ownership and Control | Quick Tax Tip
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One of the most painful scams is the shyster tax practitioner. Innocent, well intentioned taxpayers come looking for help only to find themselves paying a fee to be tossed into the labyrinthine hell of the IRS bureaucracy.
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Could the IRS Do Better with the Phones?

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Measurements need to be refined.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The IRS has made big improvements in answering phones, but the service still leaves a lot to be desired … more than the IRS measures or admits.

Before we get into the gripe, let’s look at the improvements.

MORE: IRS Sluggish on Identity Theft | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Check These 41 Items on Business Tax Returns | IRS Must Speed Up Tax Return Processing | First Tax Filing Reports Are In | Cut Down Your Tax Work in Progress | Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix | IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down
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Over the past two years, the IRS has hired more than 20,000 new Taxpayer Services employees. Many of them are the customer service representatives (CSRs) who answer the phones. And many CSRs were moved from other duties to do phone duty on what’s called Accounts Management (AM) lines.

And it worked … sort of.
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IRS Sluggish on Identity Theft

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And slow isn’t all that’s wrong.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Victims of identity theft suffer plenty enough without the IRS making a rotten situation worse.

But that’s what’s been happening.

MORE: Check These 41 Items on Business Tax Returns | IRS Must Speed Up Tax Return Processing | First Tax Filing Reports Are In | Cut Down Your Tax Work in Progress | Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix
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The National Taxpayers Advocate’s 2024 Annual Report to Congress says, “These victims are still experiencing unconscionable delays waiting for the IRS to process their returns and pay their refunds with no immediate resolution in sight.”

Congressional Concerns

How unconscionable? How about an average of 556 days – nearly 19 months – to process a case and issue a refund?
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