IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers provided wrong answers to tax questions

The Internal Revenue Service’s in-person Taxpayer Assistance Centers staff provided incorrect advice about the tax laws in nearly half of the visits by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, according to a new report that found unexpected closures of some facilities when they were supposed to be open and security guards refusing admittance.

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TIGTA inspectors made 91 unannounced site visits to 82 of the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers around the country but did not receive full assistance during 30 of the 91 visits due to incomplete or inaccurate responses to tax law questions, denial of entry by security, or unexpected TAC closures. In the 61 visits where TIGTA inspectors did receive assistance, TAC employees did not provide them with the correct tax law guidance during 28 of those visits (46%). 

During 30 of the 91 visits (33%), TIGTA received incomplete or inaccurate responses to our questions or did not receive assistance at all. TAC employees, through brief interactions, did not provide complete or accurate responses to TIGTA’s tax law questions in 19 instances. The 19 instances were brief interactions where TAC employees, such as front desk greeters when entering the TAC, did not thoroughly review the required prompts to answer our tax law questions. TIGTA inspectors were denied entry by a security guard in nine instances. The TACs were unexpectedly closed in two instances. 

The report’s release comes after the IRS closed down nine of the TAC facilities last year amid extensive budget and staffing cuts, but not as many were shut down as initially planned in early 2025 when the Trump administration reportedly drew up plans to close down 110 of the TACs. The IRS actually provided extended weekday hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from January through May 2025 at 236 of the approximately 360 TAC facilities. It also held 290 face-to-face Taxpayer Experience Day events on select Saturdays from February through June 2025 at 89 TAC locations.

During the 2025 filing season, the IRS assisted more than 925,000 taxpayers during the combined regular weekday hours, extended weekday hours, and Saturday events. But this was a 7% decrease compared to the 2024 filing season, when the IRS helped 997,600 taxpayers, even though the IRS held 41 more such events during the 2025 filing season. 

TIGTA found taxpayers weren’t consistently asked to provide feedback on the quality of service they received. Of the 61 site visits TIGTA inspectors made, 22 visits were to TACs that were scheduled to issue customer satisfaction survey cards. However, TAC employees did not provide TIGTA with surveys during 19 of the 22 visits (86%).

“If the IRS does not follow its procedures when assisting taxpayers at TACs, there is a risk that taxpayers will experience unnecessary burden, including receiving incorrect information that could lead to inaccurate tax returns, or not receiving the assistance they need,” said the report.

TIGTA made four recommendations in the report, including that the IRS should add features to the scheduling software system to automatically close no-show appointments systemically notifying staff about newly available appointment slots, and prompt TAC employees to use the tax law reference tool; receive refresher training on checking for available appointments for walk-in taxpayers and on the use of the tax law reference tool when assisting taxpayers with tax law questions. IRS officials agreed with all four of TIGTA’s recommendations.

“During the 2025 filing season, we continued modernizing the appointment process and enhancing the in-office experience,” wrote Kenneth Corbin, chief of the IRS’s Taxpayer Services division, in response to the report.