The IRS says the average wait time to reach a live assistor is about three minutes. Sounds almost too good to be true, right? Unfortunately, for millions of taxpayers, it is.
A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that what the IRS reports publicly doesn’t match what taxpayers actually experience when they call for help. So where’s the disconnect? Let’s dive in.
The IRS tracks and publishes two main metrics around its toll-free phone lines:
For the 2024 filing season, the IRS reported an LOS of 88% and wait times of about three minutes. But here’s the catch:
When you factor those in, wait times jump to 17–19 minutes on average, and LOS drops significantly—sometimes as low as 45% during the year. Yikes.
When the IRS sets expectations that callers will wait only three minutes, taxpayers understandably feel frustrated when their actual experience is much longer—or when they can’t get through at all. That frustration often leads to abandoned calls and unresolved issues.
And this isn’t just about convenience. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights guarantees the right to be informed and the right to quality service, which includes prompt assistance and clear communication. Inconsistent reporting undermines that trust.
Tax professionals know better than anyone how much time can be lost chasing down the IRS on behalf of clients. These gaps in service metrics mean:
This is exactly why we built TaxNow—to help you and your clients reduce dependency on IRS phone lines. With real-time IRS transcript access, status notifications, and automated monitoring, you can skip the hold music and get the answers you need directly.
The IRS may report three-minute wait times, but TaxNow gives you zero wait times—because the data comes straight from the source.
