IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers are Dysfunctional and Discourage Tax Compliance




IRS employee abuses

“The IRS has no regard for its operations and has consistently neglected hardworking taxpayers. The agency has abandoned its commitment to service, focusing on biased, unjust enforcement practices.”

This week, AIA highlights a February 2025 report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) that exposes chaos and a lack of responsiveness at IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) across the country. TACs, which provide face-to-face assistance to taxpayers who cannot resolve their tax-related issues through other methods or who choose to obtain information and assistance in person, are critical to a fair and functional taxpayer system.

Issues surrounding TACs date back many years. In April 2023, the IRS released a Strategic Operating Plan, detailing how it plans to transform tax administration with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. One of its primary objectives was to enhance customer service, but despite increased funding to tackle these concerns, the IRS did not resolve known issues.

The report details some of the centers’ most notable challenges:

  • Taxpayer assistance center hours of operation at some locations were not accurately posted

  • Security guards at some taxpayer assistance centers impeded evaluators’ ability to receive service and did not always screen them as required

  • Types of assistance provided at taxpayer assistance centers were inconsistent or not always offered

  • Steps have not been taken to ensure that taxpayer assistance centers’ contact information on the IRS website and in recorded local telephone messages is consistent, accurate, and up to date

  • Actions were not taken to address numerous inoperable facilitated self-assistance kiosks at taxpayer assistance centers nationwide

The report further states: “Not providing an appropriate level of service at the TACs can lead to additional burden on taxpayers who are attempting to resolve their tax issues and could also affect voluntary compliance if taxpayers give up on trying to resolve their tax issues.”

AIA finds reports of this nature incredibly troubling and believes they underscore the IRS’s neglect of taxpayers. The IRS should be service-oriented, yet they have publicly abandoned this commitment and, in doing so, punished hardworking Americans and small businesses.

Read the full report here.