The Internal Revenue Service is slightly behind in receiving and processing tax returns this year as a filing season plagued by customer service shortcomings ends this week.
A little more than 99 million people, or two-thirds of taxpayers, have filed as of April 3, down 0.8% from the same period last year, according to IRS data. The number of returns the IRS has processed at this point is down 1.2%.
People have until Wednesday to file a return, or file for an extension that gives them an extra six months to submit paperwork.
The tax body has been blunt about how its dwindling funding would affect customer service performance this year, telling taxpayers to expect long wait times on the phones and at service centers, and aggressively pushing people to file electronically and look to the Web for help instead.
That strategy has worked to some degree. Visits to IRS.gov, which fell last year after huge jumps in 2012 and 2013, are up again, 11.7% this season, though taxpayers often still face hours-long waits to reach someone if they need help beyond what’s online. At least 115 million Americans reach out to the IRS for help every year, but less than half could expect to get it this season, according to a report out earlier this year from the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS.
The IRS has also stopped helping people prepare returns, and staff has been cut so much that they often can only answer taxpayers’ basic questions, such as which forms to fill out. .
American taxpayers have already received more than $ 217 billion in tax refunds, though the IRS has issued fewer refunds than at the same time last year. The average refund is $ 2,815, up from $ 2,792 last year.
More tax tips and advice:
USA TODAY’s John Waggoner explains how you can easily avoid audits and a letter or two from the IRS. Paulo Fugen
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