“A bill to improve services provided to taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section designates the Act as the "Improving IRS Customer Service Act" and defines the term "Secretary" as the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary's delegate.
This section establishes a real-time public dashboard on the IRS website—effective 12 months after enactment—providing, for each applicable phone number extension (i.e., certain IRS customer service lines receiving 200,000+ calls annually or operated by specific functions such as accounts management or automated collections), (1) current numbers of callers connected to representatives or automated systems, waiting, longest wait time, and callback availability; (2) an embedded tool estimating wait times for representatives; and (3) a public API for automated third-party access to such data. The dashboard must also display monthly summaries for each extension, including average and median call lengths and talk times, percentages routed to automation or disconnected, transfer data with hold times, and caller satisfaction rates. Additionally, this section requires the IRS to (1) use technology to detect and screen automated calls and (2) post, for any week with a significant processing delay in applicable items (i.e., categories of tax returns, claims, or documents; defined as failure to process items received 21+ days prior), the earliest receipt date of items processed that week.
This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 12 months after enactment, to provide taxpayers via website and mobile application with individualized, real-time information on the status of their tax returns and amended returns—including (1) IRS receipt and entry into its systems, (2) processing completion with refund issuance date, expected receipt date, and payment details (i.e., bank account or mailing address), and (3) any processing suspension with reasons and, if applicable, requested information, submission instructions, and due date.
This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) taxpayers contacting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should have the option to receive a callback, and (2) not later than calendar year 2028, the IRS should provide any taxpayer—including those residing outside the United States—the option to receive a callback for calls to an applicable phone number extension (as defined in section 2(d)(2) of this Act) that are not answered within five minutes.
This section requires the Secretary of the Treasury to make available, no later than January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 18 months after enactment, a website or mobile application enabling any taxpayer—including those residing outside the United States—to (1) view, consistent with IRC §6103 confidentiality rules, any return, document, notice, or letter (excluding non-legal educational items) sent by the IRS or filed/sent to the IRS by the taxpayer or authorized persons during the preceding six-year period (prospectively from enactment); (2) respond to IRS-sent items by uploading or transmitting responses; and (3) authorize access and transmittals by authorized practitioners (under 31 U.S.C. §330), tax return preparers with PTINs, or qualified reporting agents (i.e., those authorized to sign/file employment tax returns under IRC §§3101, 3111, 3301, or 3402 and meet Secretary requirements), with bulk access to multiple taxpayer accounts. The section further requires availability of viewed items as soon as practicable per regulations; a program to investigate and address unauthorized disclosures or misconduct by designees, with annual public reporting of actions (e.g., complaints investigated, access revocations); and pre-launch focus groups with taxpayers and professionals.
This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than 12 months after the date of enactment, to establish a program to identify taxpayers reasonably likely to be experiencing economic hardship (determined using criteria under IRC §6343(a)(1)(D) based on recent income, asset, and financial schedule data) who have unpaid tax liabilities. For such taxpayers requesting installment agreements under IRC §6159(a), the program requires providing information on alternatives including partial payment installment agreements, offers-in-compromise under IRC §7122, and currently not collectible status under IRC §6343(e). (Thus, the program promotes awareness of relief options that may suspend or reduce collection for taxpayers unable to pay basic living expenses.) Not later than two years after enactment, the Secretary must submit a report to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, in consultation with the National Taxpayer Advocate, evaluating identification accuracy, potential other uses, and data on affected taxpayers, options provided, and liability statuses.
This section requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to publish monthly on the IRS website performance statistics for each local Taxpayer Advocate Service office, including (1) for cases opened in the prior 12 months, the average time to assign a case number, average time to assign a case worker, and the top three taxpayer issues encountered; (2) for cases opened in the prior 24 months, the average time to case closure; and (3) the number of open cases disaggregated by taxpayer type (individual, business, estate or trust, or other). It also requires an online tool estimating case resolution time based on case open date and tax issue, with monthly updates. Further, it requires the annual report to the Oversight Board to include nationwide aggregates of select statistics from local offices for the fiscal year (and prior year for closures). The requirements take effect 12 months after enactment.