IRS reduces tax return backlog by 80% and is doing better job answering the phone

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS has processed tens of millions of tax returns faster this year compared with years past, and getting through to customer service on the phone is slowly improving. That word comes in a new report to Congress from the National Taxpayer Advocate. But there’s a huge need to update the agency’s information technology services and have more workers answering calls. Still, it’s a vast improvement after years of backlogs and decades of underfunding. The office’s latest update on IRS operations says the agency cut its backlog of unprocessed paper tax returns by 80%, from 13.3 million returns at the end of the 2022 filing season to 2.6 million at the end of the 2023 filing season.