In the mid year report to Congress (IR-2024-173), National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins revealed the misleading metrics that the IRS uses to report call service. The IRS accounts for a goal of achieving a Level of Service (LoS) of at least 85%, which was exceeded in 2024 (88%).
“… The Treasury Department and the IRS have established the “Accounts Management (AM) Customer Service Representative Level of Service (LOS)” as the agency’s principal and most widely cited measure of taxpayer service. For the past two filing seasons, they set a goal of achieving an LOS of at least 85%, and they succeeded. This year, the IRS achieved an LOS of 88%. ”
However, the IRS only answered around 31% of taxpayers calls, but in some areas is only 1% of the total calls received.
“… The 88% LOS leaves many observers with the impression that IRS employees answered 88% of taxpayer calls. In fact, IRS employees answered only 31% of taxpayer calls.”
Keep in mind from personal experience that even if answered, many of these calls drop either after talking a few sentences or at the middle of the conversation which impedes the resolution. There is a lack of knowledge and reporting (a simple questionnaire at the end of the call would address this issues) if the call solved the issue, which is also raised in the report.
“… The AM LOS only measures the percentage of certain calls answered – not whether the IRS was able to resolve the taxpayer’s problem.”
From the detailed table (link below) of the 10 Most Frequently Called IRS Telephone lines, there is a significant discrepancy between calls answered and Level of Service:
- Refund Hotline – Calls received: 8.3 million – Percentage of calls answered: 1% – Level of Service – 77%
- Individual Income – Calls received: 6.9 million – Percentage of calls answered: 30% – Level of Service – 87%
From discussion with IRS officials, some of the IRS agents dedicated to the Customer Representative area are working from home and the IRS does not require any specific minimum bandwidth or minimum internet requirements (even if the IRS monitors their employees for repeated patterns, like dropping calls from 1pm to 3pm, or continuous short conversations that would not resolve complex issues).
Based on this information, there is room for improvement in the IRS, such as increase efficiency and invest in technology and customer service.
