IRS Won’t Answer the Phone? Get Human or Online Assistance

It’s never been easy to contact the Internal Revenue Service, but the IRS not answering phone calls has gotten even worse lately. If you keep calling and the IRS never picks up the phone, here’s what you can do.

Try the Where’s My Refund tool to check your refund status.

The IRS lets you check your refund status online. You can see basic information like when to expect your tax refund or whether it’s on hold.

In many cases, the tool will make it clear that you just need to wait a little longer.

Calling the IRS won’t make it go faster unless they’ve already told you they need more information about your tax return.

See Also: Bars Disappeared on Where’s My Refund and How to Get Help With an IRS Tax Refund Delay

Respond in writing when possible.

When you get an IRS notice or letter, respond in writing when possible.

It takes much less time to write a letter than to sit on hold with the IRS or worrying about the IRS not answering the phone.

Once your response is in, it will be handled in the order the IRS received it.

Call at a different time.

The IRS operates its phone lines from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in each time zone.

Speaking to an IRS agent is often easiest right when they open or right before they close.

The busiest times are during lunchtime and when people start to get off work.

When the IRS phone lines are really busy, there can be a little bit of luck involved in getting through as well.

The IRS can only handle so many people calling at once. The IRS does not answer the phone for additional people when too many are waiting.

The IRS is normally busiest during tax filing season.

Special issues that affect large numbers of people, like the stimulus payments or advanced child tax credit, can also overwhelm the IRS phone lines.

Does the IRS work on Saturday?

The IRS usually only works Monday through Friday. Offices are closed on federal holidays as well as some state holidays depending on the office.

During tax season, the IRS may have special weekend hours. This is usually for walk-in service at local offices rather than additional phone hours.

Know your tax professional doesn’t work for the IRS.

Tax professionals don’t work for the IRS. They get information about your tax situation based on what you give them, when they call the IRS, or when they pull up your IRS tax transcript.

Tax professionals may have a slightly easier time getting through to the IRS on the phone or using a special tool they have to get your tax history. However, they will usually charge you for this time.

If you’re just trying to get information from the IRS, it’s usually best to contact the IRS directly.

Try using IRS online services.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to use its online services when possible.

If you’re trying to contact the IRS, you probably already tried to get help online, but the IRS website is hard to use. You may not have known the following services are available online.

• Set up a payment plan
• Get a record of your payments and tax details
• Make a payment
• File your personal income tax return
• View your account information

Try your local IRS office.

If you’ve been having trouble contracting the IRS, try scheduling an appointment at your local IRS office. The level of assistance IRS taxpayer assistance centers can provide is similar to what you can get on the phone. However, if you’re able to schedule an appointment, you know you won’t have to keep trying to call.

The IRS office near you can often help with

• Tax credits
• Online accounts
• Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) renewals
• Identity theft assistance
• Making payments (check or money order, no cash)
• Setting up a payment plan
• Refunds
• Obtaining tax transcripts
• Filling out tax forms
• Basic tax information (but can’t provide advice)

If you need assistance in a foreign language or using sign language, be sure to mention this when you schedule your appointment.

Contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is a special office in the IRS that helps taxpayers who believe they’ve been treated unfairly or not provided with an appropriate level of service. This would include not being able to get in touch with the IRS after multiple attempts.

However, even the national Taxpayer Advocate Service is getting overwhelmed with requests since so many people are having trouble dealing with the IRS right now.

Write to your Congressman or Senator.

There are two things your Congressman or Senator can do if you’re having trouble dealing with the IRS. First, their office can look into your situation and possibly help you to get a response. Second, if they hear from enough angry voters, they have the ability to do things like making sure the IRS has enough resources or getting people who aren’t doing their jobs fired.

When will the IRS backlog end?

The IRS hiring 87,000 new agents has gotten a lot of attention with people worried about more audits of small businesses and working-class families. However, the answer to why the IRS is not answering phone calls is that they just don’t have enough people.

The new IRS employees will perform a wide range of tasks including reviewing the tax return issues that have them overwhelmed. Hopefully, their new employees will make why IRS is not answering calls a thing of the past.