Has anyone noticed the service provided by the Taxpayer Advocate Office has slipped significantly.
Exiting tax season has resulted in three cases I am having to refer to TAS.
You may need several calls to get past the front line of "screeners". These people are usually barely civil, and when you explain a rough order magnitude of the problem, they assume you are an idiot, having not tried usual channels. (Of course, if the "usual channels" worked to begin with, we would not need to contact the TAS).
The obvious avowed purpose of these screeners is to keep you from getting assigned a case. They use a number of devices to get you off the phone as quickly as they possibly can. They will promise to call you back, when in reality once the phone link is abandoned the next call comes through to them. When you attempt to explain the problem it becomes obvious that they have no skill or tax knowledge, they are simply call center personnel who are considered "Tier 1" to stop you from getting to "Tier 2".
In the past, I don't remember this much trouble from the TAS office. It makes sense, however, that they use money and resources to screen calls, and the personnel obviously care more about getting you off the phone than they do "directing your call". Their preference of directing your call is to the wastebasket.
If any of you, like myself, have cases for the TaxPayer Advocate, make sure you have all your documentation, CAF#, etc. ready and correct the party when they attempt to tell you that "you have no case." Don't give them any reason to minimize the need for the TAS by suggesting that you haven't already gone through IRS channels.
By the way, the TAS supposed does NOT work for the IRS, but is specially commissioned by Congress. Why then, are they assigned 7-digit employee numbers like IRS employees?
Exiting tax season has resulted in three cases I am having to refer to TAS.
You may need several calls to get past the front line of "screeners". These people are usually barely civil, and when you explain a rough order magnitude of the problem, they assume you are an idiot, having not tried usual channels. (Of course, if the "usual channels" worked to begin with, we would not need to contact the TAS).
The obvious avowed purpose of these screeners is to keep you from getting assigned a case. They use a number of devices to get you off the phone as quickly as they possibly can. They will promise to call you back, when in reality once the phone link is abandoned the next call comes through to them. When you attempt to explain the problem it becomes obvious that they have no skill or tax knowledge, they are simply call center personnel who are considered "Tier 1" to stop you from getting to "Tier 2".
In the past, I don't remember this much trouble from the TAS office. It makes sense, however, that they use money and resources to screen calls, and the personnel obviously care more about getting you off the phone than they do "directing your call". Their preference of directing your call is to the wastebasket.
If any of you, like myself, have cases for the TaxPayer Advocate, make sure you have all your documentation, CAF#, etc. ready and correct the party when they attempt to tell you that "you have no case." Don't give them any reason to minimize the need for the TAS by suggesting that you haven't already gone through IRS channels.
By the way, the TAS supposed does NOT work for the IRS, but is specially commissioned by Congress. Why then, are they assigned 7-digit employee numbers like IRS employees?
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