If you dread calling the IRS, you can meet with them instead at one of their Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) in more than 360 locations. However, the inspector general for the IRS, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), recently warned that TACs may mislead taxpayers with incorrect information. Yet it is an accomplishment to progress that far. Scheduled appointments are recommended, but TACs accommodate visitors without an appointment as resources allow. Standard procedure requires TACs to close an appointment if the taxpayer is 15 minutes late to help taxpayers who walk in without an appointment. This was done only 4% of the time. Instead, TACs routinely kept those appointment times closed to other taxpayers. TIGTA made 91 unannounced visits to 82 TACs. Two visits were preempted due to sudden TAC closure, and 9 were prevented because the security guard refused them entry. For 17 visits, TIGTA was told to make an appointment. For 10 of these incidents, the TACs did not even give a phone number to make an appointment. Two of the 17 visitors were told that an appointment was needed 3 to 5 weeks in advance.
An appointment was available for all 17 visitors within an hour of arrival, but they were still turned away. TACs periodically issue satisfaction survey cards on certain days through statistical sampling, but they failed to do so 86% of the time. Of the visits in which the inspectors received full assistance, the TACs were incorrect nearly half the time (46%). The report did not reveal the full details of this assessment, but TIGTA asked three general commonplace questions.
TACs were particularly deficient in their answers regarding injured spouse relief. Unfortunately, information from a Taxpayer Assistance Center must be verified. To double-check the guidance you received from the IRS, please contact (916) 822-8700 for assistance.