If you call the IRS chances are they won't answer.

From Federal News Radio.com


The IRS budget has been on the decline over the past few years — even as the IRS workload has increased. 

The agency's budget last year stood at about $11.2 billion, about $1 billion less than what Congress allotted the agency in 2010. Over the same time, the agency has downsized by about 8,000 employees.

That has had severe implications for the services offered by the agency as well as its ability to enforce tax collections, according to the report.

For example, the agency projects it will only be able to answer 61 percent of customer service calls — equating to 20 million unanswered phone calls — this year, according to the report.
Meanwhile, phone waiting times are approaching 20 minutes "for those lucky enough to get through," the report stated. A decade ago, the average wait time was less than three minutes, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.

Spending on training employees has also dried up in recent years. Total dollars spent on training declined from $172 million in 2010 to $22 million in 2013 — a more than 80 percent decline.  "The IRS not only has fewer employees than four years ago, but those who remain are less equipped to perform their jobs and to understand and respect taxpayer rights," the report stated.

As someone who calls the IRS literally on a daily basis, your tax guy agrees.  The Monday before Christmas we waited two and a half hours,  let me say that again two and a half hours, before I could talk with  a representative, who couldn't even help us.  Extraordinary. The additional Obama care enforcement responsibilities only exasperate the situation.  This is an agency that still stores taxpayer data on 60's era magnetic tape.  The system is collapsing.




Read more by clicking on this link.