IRS has improved taxpayer services but is slow to resolve ID theft, watchdog says
An independent watchdog finds the IRS has improved its overall taxpayer service through Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act but still faces delays processing claims from a coronavirus pandemic-era tax credit program and is slow to resolve certain identi...
WASHINGTON — The IRS boosted taxpayer services through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act but still faces processing claims from a coronavirus pandemic-era tax credit program and is slow to resolve certain identity theft cases, according to an independent watchdog report released Wednesday.
“For the first time since I became the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2020, I can begin this report with good news: The taxpayer experience has noticeably improved,” Erin M. Collins wrote in her 2024 annual report to Congress.
She said “the IRS has made major strides” with the help of the billions of dollars in multiyear funding, though she notes that “IRS service remains far from perfect.”
Remaining service gaps include prolonged delays in resolving claims from the nearly half a million taxpayers whose identities were stolen by fraudsters who received a refund on their behalf. The delays have increased from 19 months in 2023 to 22 months in 2024, according to the report.
In addition, the report says there have been lengthy delays in the resolution of eligible Employee Retention Credit claims submitted by employers who rely on those refunds to stay in business.
The Employee Retention Credit, or ERC, was designed to help businesses retain employees during pandemic-era shutdowns, but it quickly became a magnet for fraud. Its complex eligibility rules allowed scammers to target small businesses, offering help applying for it for a fee — even if they didn’t qualify.
In September 2023,
Read more on abcnews.go.com
