IRS cuts add to waits for tax help

Less staff to answer last-minute queries

Budget cuts have left the IRS with 5,000 fewer employees this year than it had a year ago, even as the number of tax returns it processes continues to rise. The result: long lines at walk-in centers and lengthy holds for taxpayers who call the agency’s toll-free number.

The IRS’ 2012 budget has been cut 2.5% from 2011, as Congress seeks to rein in the federal deficit. At the same time, lawmakers have asked the IRS to administer an expanding array of tax breaks and programs, says National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, says the cuts have made it harder for taxpayers to get IRS help, particularly during the days leading up to today’s tax-filing deadline.

Shawn Schlegel, 37, of Perinton, N.Y., was told he was in for an hour or more wait Monday when he stepped into an IRS walk-in center in Rochester, N.Y., for help clearing up an audit. “It’s my own fault,” Schlegel says.

Brandi Williams, 30, a certified nursing assistant from Starr, S.C., left the IRS office in Greenville on Monday after a two-hour wait. She says she was audited in 2004 and needed documents from previous years to send in with her return.

“I had to come send some paperwork in to get it faxed. And the (IRS) computers are down,” preventing her from faxing papers to the agency, she says. “They don’t know when they’re going to be back up or anything.”

Retiree Edgar Price, 75, was still waiting for his number to be called at the walk-in East Harlem center in New York after nearly 2½ hours. Price says the IRS garnished his previous salary for back taxes and now wants to take some of his Social Security income. “Pretty soon I’ll be on the street if they go ahead and do this,” he says.

Getachew Amare, 62, was among about 30 taxpayers waiting for their numbers to be called Monday at the Bailey’s Crossroads walk-in center in Northern Virginia. Several said they had been waiting for hours.

“A lot of people come to get answers from IRS officers in person,” Amare says.

Taxpayers who have tried to get help on the phone aren’t faring much better. Through March 3, only about two-thirds of callers to the IRS’ toll-free line got through to an IRS employee, according to a report issued Monday by the Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration. The percentage of “dropped calls” includes taxpayers who declined to wait on hold, along with those who got a busy signal.

Nationwide, the IRS has 160 fewer employees at its walk-in centers than it had a year ago, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman says. “I think we’re holding our own, given the resources we have. These are tough fiscal times for everyone.”