TAX RESOLUTION SERVICES

Adjei: Profit from IRS Representation | The Concierge CPA

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From Big Four consulting to FEMA volunteerism, Adjei blends problem-solving, purpose, and proactive planning.

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The Concierge CPA
With Jackie Meyer
For CPA Trendlines

When Hurricane Harvey submerged his first office, Houston-based CPA and tax advisor Brandon Adjei could have stepped back. Instead, he leaned in, volunteering for months at FEMA disaster relief centers, helping storm victims navigate IRS issues so they could access life-saving grants and loans. That work, originally meant to be temporary, became a catalyst for building a broader tax practice that now spans the U.S. and international clients.

More Jackie Meyer

On The Concierge CPA, host Jackie Meyer sits down with Adjei to unpack a career that has been anything but linear. From starting at Enron just before its collapse, to Big Four M&A consulting, to founding multiple firms, Adjei’s journey is rooted in adaptability, relationship-building, and a deep commitment to client advocacy.

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Can DOGE and Palantir Fix the IRS with a ‘Mega API’?

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And what about data security and privacy?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service is developing a Unified API Layer intended to consolidate access across its fractured legacy systems, a move that could transform the agency—if executed with transparency, speed, and user needs in mind.

MORE IRS | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill |IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

The project gained momentum–and sparked controversy–this year with the Department of Government Efficiency and Palantir Technologies aiming to build a comprehensive API system.

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Five Million IRS Refunds Delayed by Staff Cuts

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Still, better than 21 million in 2022 pandemic.

By CPA Trendlines Research

2025 Filing Season by the Numbers
Individual Returns Received 140.6 million
Refunds Issued 86.1 million
Total Refund Dollars $253 billion
Average Refund $2,942

Issuing $49 billion more in refunds than last year, the Internal Revenue Service processed over $253 billion in refunds during the 2025 filing season, with 86.1 million refunds issued and an average check of $2,942, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2026 Objectives Report to Congress.

MORE IRS | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill |IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

In 2022, the IRS faced a substantial backlog, with over 21 million delayed refunds, primarily due to pandemic-related challenges and a surge in paper filings. By 2023, improvements in processing systems and staffing helped reduce the backlog to approximately 1.9 million delayed refunds. However, in 2025, delayed refunds rose again to over 5 million, slowed by headline-making staff cuts and an uptick in identity theft cases requiring additional verification.

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IRS Phone Stats Improve—Unless You’re a Tax Pro

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What “Priority Service”? Only 61 percent of practitioner calls get through.

IRS Phone Line
Level of Service
Accounts Management
87%
Practitioner Priority Service
61%
Installment Agreement / Balance Due
35%
Identity Theft
29%
Critical support lines remain overwhelmed.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service reports significant improvements in its phone service, but the gains mask critical shortfalls in other high-demand lines, frustrating taxpayers and practitioners alike.

MORE IRS | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill |IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

Despite improvements in certain areas, such as the Accounts Management lines achieving an 87 percent Level of Service with average wait times dropping to 3 minutes, other critical lines experienced significantly lower service levels. For instance, the Identity Theft line had an LOS of just 29 percent, and the Installment Agreement/Balance Due line stood at 35 percent.

However, performance plummets for other phone lines. The Level of Service on the Identity Theft line was just 29 percent, and on the Installment Agreement/Balance Due line, it was 35 percent.

The Practitioner Priority Service line, heavily used by professionals, managed just 61 percent, well below the standard for acceptable support.

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‘Kryptonite:’ IRS Buried under 8 Million Paper Returns

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2025 season leaves 8.2 million unprocessed returns and a backlog of 750,000 correspondence cases.

Return Type
Scanned by April 18
Form 1040
~1%
Form 940
~9%
Form 941
~13.5%
Far behind digital processing goals.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Despite modernization efforts, the IRS is drowning in paper, which the National Taxpayer Advocate calls the agency’s “kryptonite.”

MORE Tax | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill  | IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

During the 2025 filing season, the IRS scanned fewer than 1 percent of paper-filed Forms 1040, falling drastically short of its Paperless Processing Initiative goals. This continuing reliance on paper adds months to the processing cycle. In addition to return delays, it clogs the system for identity theft resolution, amended returns, and refund claims, each requiring manual review. For tax professionals, the paper problem means longer timelines, more uncertainty, and higher support costs.

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Mounting Delays Undermine Public Trust in IRS Refund Process

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Get ready for more unhappy clients and tougher conversations.

Identity Theft Victim Assistance (IDTVA) Workload
Pending IDTVA Cases 387,000
Average Resolution Time 602 days
Percent of Affected Taxpayers Below 250% of Federal Poverty Line 69%
Pending cases and processing delays stress hundreds of thousands of taxpayers financially.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service is taking an average of 20 months to resolve identity theft cases, leaving hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in financial limbo, disproportionately harming low-income households and straining the resources of CPA firms and tax professionals.

MORE Tax | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill  | IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

For tax professionals, the stakes are high and the immediate need is clear: Set client expectations, document communication with the IRS, and explore hardship cases that might qualify for expedited handling. At the policy level, the delays are fueling calls for funding, automation, and clearer transparency metrics from the IRS.

“Victims entitled to refunds are waiting nearly two years to receive them,” Collins says. “These delays disproportionately affect vulnerable populations dependent on their refunds to meet basic living expenses.”

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Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients

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A hobbled agency could have trouble meeting revenue goals and basic taxpayer services.

Taxpayer Advocate Collins: “Significant challenges.”

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service is reeling from massive Trump Administration staffing cuts, which have left the agency knee-capped with nearly 26,500 fewer employees, raising red flags for tax professionals about service quality, enforcement consistency and case resolution delays.

MORE Tax | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill | Quick Tax Tip | IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

The IRS has lost 25.9 percent of its workforce since Jan. 25, 2025, with headcount dropping from 102,113 to 75,702 as of June 4, 2025. Most of the cuts come from voluntary separation incentives rather than layoffs, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate 2026 Objectives Report to Congress.

Yet, the result is the same: fewer agents, auditors, and call center staff, just as tax complexity and demand for support are expected to increase.

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Tax Rep Training Found in New Partnership

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New partnership between Becker and the Tax Rep Network.

By CPA Trendlines

It’s been widely publicized that the IRS may be finally catching up on its “balance due” and other notices to taxpayers and, as such, so goes the need for tax representation work. If this is indeed your path as a CPA or tax pro, then consider this new partnership between accounting exam prep and training service Becker and the Tax Rep Network.

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The IRS Tidal Wave Is Here

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man silhouetted against open doorway in tidal wave

What you need to know now.

By Eric Green

For over a year now, we’ve been saying that the IRS was properly funded and warned it would unleash a tidal wave of work. We also warned you that we would be dealing with all sorts of untrained employees. The bad news, at least for clients, is that day has come.

MORE: S Corp Clients Beware | Four Ways to Handle Federal Tax Liens | The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | Tax Chat: Eric Green Reveals The Tax Rep Guide to Tax Season | What I Wish Clients Knew about Tax Liens | Tax: Explaining the Bad News about Canceled Debt to Clients | Offers in Compromise Aren’t for Everyone
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The good news for tax pros is that with this wave of enforcement spells opportunities for representation work. What you do still have to navigate is the impact of untrained employees, who are creating their own set of challenges.
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Four Ways to Handle Federal Tax Liens

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There’s more than one route to satisfying the IRS Collection Division.

By Eric L. Green

IRS tax liens can have a profound impact on an individual’s situation, affecting their ability to get loans, sell property or engage in business activities. As such, it is crucial for individuals to understand how IRS tax liens work and the options available for getting rid of them.

MORE: The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | Tax Chat: Eric Green Reveals The Tax Rep Guide to Tax Season
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In this article we discuss approaches and factors to consider when dealing with IRS tax liens, offering insights and advice to help taxpayers navigate this process.

Understanding IRS Tax Liens

Before discussing ways to remove tax liens, it is important to get a basic understanding of what they entail. A tax lien represents a right against a taxpayer’s assets, and is used by the IRS to secure its interest in the taxpayer’s assets – both those owned at the time and those later acquired.
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The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance

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10 million high-income taxpayers targeted.

By Eric Green

Those of us in the know have been saying for a while now that the IRS is sending a “wave” of tax notices, and you need to prepare your clients for compliance and, ultimately, remittance and resolution. Well, that day has finally come.

The IRS is launching its long-awaited effort to crack down on high-income taxpayers who have failed to file tax returns.

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For practitioners, many taxpayers will be scrambling for help from tax professionals.  Understanding how to handle these taxpayers when they come in will have a real impact on how painful the re-entry into the tax system is going to be.

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Tax Chat: Eric Green Reveals The Tax Rep Guide to Tax Season

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Seth Fineberg
With Eric Green

Renowned tax attorney Eric L. Green delivers a roadmap for seizing tax resolution opportunities this tax season in the new video from last week’s first Tax Chat of the year, hosted by Seth Fineberg.

MORE TAX SEASON: FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services |  Higher Fees to Start: Ten Ways to Make Your Tax Season Better | Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns | Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful?

In this live webinar, attendees – and now you – get the fundamentals for catching lucrative tax rep engagements without adding to busy season workloads. With live, real-time Q&A, everyone’s questions got answered.
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Help Business Clients Lower Property Tax Assessments

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profile of man shouting TAX and other, starred-out wordsSome property owners pay inaccurate property tax levels by as much as 20% to 30%.

By Josh Malancuk with JM Tax Advocates

With cash-starved states and municipalities looking under every nook and cranny for revenue, manufacturers with lots of fixed assets and personal property are generally taking it on the chin when it comes to their property tax assessments.

MORE: Six Kinds of Loan Covenants | 26 Ways to Wreck a Financial Projection | Three Ways to Run a Break-Even Analysis | Price Not Always the Top Consideration in a Sale | When an Owner Dies Without a Buy-Sell Agreement | Due Diligence Is in the Details
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Many of your business clients, especially manufacturers, sense their assessments are too high. But most don’t have the time, resources or expertise to challenge their assessment through the protest or appeal process before the deadline. And so, overpayments continue for another cycle and then again, and again and again. That’s what assessors count on. But you owe it to your clients to keep your assessors accountable through available appeals and to help them avoid overpaying taxes year after year.

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