IRS executives are prioritizing taxpayer authentication services during the agency’s phased reopening to help underserved taxpayers get their refunds, according to an IRS managers’ representative.
The IRS is preparing to ask for additional volunteers to perform mission-critical functions at one of the agency’s 10 campuses or at remote call sites, Chad Hooper, president of the Professional Managers Association, told Tax Notes May 7.
On April 25 the IRS called for up to 11,000 employee-volunteers to resume on-site work, but hasn’t yet deployed that many, Hooper said.
Congress is also getting in on the act. Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and four other Oklahoma lawmakers in a May 6 letter asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to reopen taxpayer assistance centers and telephone help lines.
Employee-volunteers thus far are answering phone calls and letters, supporting mail room operations, and depositing checks, Hooper said.
The IRS didn’t respond to a request for an update on its reopening moves. Hooper is a supervisory tax analyst with the IRS in Philadelphia, but emphasized that he doesn’t speak for the agency.
Practitioner Hotlines
Deciding which agency services to open and when will depend on the availability of experienced and securely connected employees, not the level of demand for particular services, Hooper said.
“This isn’t to imply that the practitioner priority service [PPS] . . . isn’t on anyone’s radar,” Hooper said. Professional Managers Association members report that a limited reopening of the PPS phone lines is being discussed, he said.
But practitioner hotlines require a higher level of staff experience and training, Hooper said. “It’s important to note that we staff PPS with experienced [customer service representatives] to provide robust assistance to that constituency,” he said.
“It will take time before we have the capacity for the line — particularly in light of the [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136)] statutory requirement that the IRS stand up a brand new phone operation to assist the public with their questions and issues,” Hooper said.
“I know that staffing an [economic impact payment] line is a priority while continuing to serve those taxpayers with needs around identity authentication,” Hooper said. The CARES Act mandates that the IRS establish a hotline for taxpayer questions about their economic impact payments. Any other capacity would support other phone lines, depending on the skills of available personnel, he said.
Cleaning Up
National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said he supports the IRS’s “attempts to attract volunteers for this special duty, with incentive pay.”
Reardon noted that one IRS employee has tested positive for COVID-19 at the agency’s Kansas City, Missouri, campus.
“It is important that employees feel safe when reporting to work,” Reardon said. The IRS has been enforcing social distancing, providing hand sanitizer, cleaning according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols, and providing face coverings for employees without them, he said.