Taxpayers pay sky-high costs for subpar service at call centers — the ones that answer questions to the Internal Revenue Service about how much of one’s income has to be forked over to the government.
It costs the government $42 for every call attendants at the IRS hotline answer. The calls average 12.5 minutes. The $42 figure was a nearly one-third increase over the prior year.
There are 6,900 full-time employees dedicated to answering such calls.
Despite the cost and manpower, “more than a third of calls ended with the taxpayer hanging up, receiving a busy signal, or being disconnected before reaching an assister,” according to the Government Accountability Office.
Callers had to wait an average of about 20 minutes to speak with an operator in fiscal year 2014. But the agency hasn’t set any goals to reduce wait time.
Government agencies should compare their functions to the “best in the business” in the private sector, but the IRS has not examined how large corporations provide call centers with prompter service and lower cost, GAO said.
“IRS officials cite budget constraints and difficulty in identifying” organizations with comparable size and complexity. Additionally, the IRS “did not develop measurable goals or an analysis plan to evaluate the effectiveness of 2014 service changes, which could inform planned changes for 2015,” the congressional watchdog said.
“IRS has requested additional funding to deliver a targeted level of service,” the GAO noted.
