Tax & AccountingJuly 14, 2022
Advice for tax professionals struggling with long IRS phone wait times
The IRS is still struggling with phone wait times. Taxpayers are still experiencing longer than usual (non-busy season) wait times to reach the IRS via phone and get important information about their accounts.
And while some pros have reported success, overall, even tax professionals are still reporting difficulty getting through, whether it’s regarding tracking a client’s refund status, determining current payoff amounts, the total amount of Economic Impact Payments received, setting up a payment plan for a client, or making arrangements for Power of Attorney and Tax Information Authorization requests.
My advice to tax professionals? Ensure that you – and your clients – have created an online account through the IRS’ secure online portal. Not only is the portal an invaluable resource to get the information you need and accomplish much more than ever, but tax professionals can direct clients to check the status of their refunds through that portal (and reduce their time on these administrative tasks).
By logging into their online accounts, taxpayers can access (and provide access to tax professionals) the following information and perform the following actions:
- View their payoff amount, which is updated for the current day
- View their balance for each tax year for which they owe taxes
- View their payment history
- View their address on file
- View their total amount of the Economic Impact Payments they have received (if any)
- View digital copies of select IRS notices
- View key information from their most current tax return as originally filed
- View their payment plan details if they have one
- Select an electronic payment option
- Set up an online payment agreement
- Access tax records and transcripts
- Approve and electronically sign Power of Attorney and Tax Information Authorization requests from their tax professional
All tax professionals should ensure that they have registered for an online account and that their clients have done the same. Ensuring your clients have a secure online account through the IRS portal and authorize you as their tax preparer can gain you back capacity to provide tax planning and advisory services.
Anyone without a secure online account can create one on the IRS website.
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