Originally Posted by donheff View Post
I think the IRS just got whacked another $10B in the continuing resolution, so add another 6 months to your wait. On the upside, you are more likely to get away with tax fraud if you want to try some self-help actions.
+1. And clueless people will complain about IRS service even more…
What does "clueless" have to do with it?
We aren't getting served, that's a problem. It might be IRS, or it might be funding, or a combination.
I can't control either (in any meaningful way), so I can't complain? So I'm derided as being "clueless"? What else can I do (I'm not so naive to actually think my vote will matter, though I do it regardless)?
At any rate, I blame Congress. They make the laws, and there is no reason for tax laws to be this complex. If they were simpler, the IRS could do their job well with 1/100th the staff. Complexity begets complexity, it's just out of hand.
Here's an example of waste: My return, and many, many like it, contains absolutely nothing that the IRS doesn't already get (1099-R, 1099-INT,DIV,B, and W-2 if you are employed). Yet, I have to enter all this, and if I forget something, I'll get a notice (maybe years later), and now a bunch of staff is involved, forms are filled out, returned, interest calculated and paid, all with delay and staff involved.
Well, if they had all the info, why don't they just file my taxes, send me the result, and I can sign, and/or add anything that I feel warranted (maybe I want to itemize deductions).
It could all be so more efficient. Faster computers and more staff shouldn't be the first response.
Heck, I got a form last year saying I didn't sign the paper-filed amended 1041 I did for my deceased FIL. Fortunately, I took pictures of the forms and the envelope right in my car in the post office parking lot, and then sealed the envelope, right there and then, so I knew I signed them. So it was an IRS mistake, I am 100% certain. But staff got involved, wasting everyone's time.
And earlier, there was a typo on my FILs and MILs EIN on their "final" 1041s. Semi-long story, it was the tax guys fault, but I ended up having to handle it as he was having personal issues he had to deal with. Taxes were paid, checks cashed, but not credited to the right account due to the EIN typo.
OK, not the IRS fault of course, but getting it straightened out was a nightmare. Don't tell me about staffing issues, if there was any efficiency in the IRS, it would have been handled with one email (here is the wrong EIN, here is the correct one, here's copies of the cashed checks). But no, dozens of threatening letters, dozens of phone calls, many dozens of hours on hold (only to be hung up on), more threatening letters even after it was supposedly resolved, it just goes on and on. They create their own backlog.
On the plus side, when I finally g through to an IRS person, they seemed well informed and willing to help. But the whole process is slow, and the reps didn't seem to be in any rush either, they took their time, not like they were pushing things to be able to get to the next phone call.
-ERD50
Not generally a good idea!
