HR Specialists Are Answering the Phones at the IRS

The IRS is paying some of its employees two or three times what a customer service rep makes to answer taxpayer questions and work amended returns.

This year, IRS representatives answering the phone when taxpayers (and tax attorneys) called in to negotiate resolutions had no experience with the Internal Revenue Manual. They were hired to work in IT and HR departments but were forced to answer the phones because of a shortage of representatives in that role.

That's who's handling your client's case right now.

Recently, the Treasury Inspector General audited the IRS and found that it moved mid-career employees into jobs answering the phone, which many had no experience in.

This week's newsletter covers four things: who's handling IRS questions right now, why the IRS is paying more for less experience, what an IRS answer is really worth, and what I do on these calls to get the right one.

1. Who's on the Other End When You Call

The IRS lost more than a quarter of its workforce last year and didn't hit its hiring goals for the 2026 filing season. To fill the gap, it put about 1,500 IT and HR employees on 120-day details in taxpayer services to answer taxpayer questions and process returns. Most had no background in the work.

Those jobs were supposed to end in June, but most got extended, and now the IRS wants volunteers for a third round, which would keep them out of their real jobs for almost a year.

Meanwhile, between September 2025 and January 2026, the IRS hired 2,238 new phone reps, so many of the people you reach after an hour on hold have only been doing the job for a few months.

The reassigned employees described what it's like under these conditions.

According to personnel interviewed for the audit, one couldn't get into IDRS, the system that holds taxpayer account data, for weeks.

His supervisor would show up 30 minutes before his shift ended, leaving almost no time for anyone with experience to train him and catch his mistakes. Others described rushed training and being expected to work cases alone before they were ready.

The people answering your IRS calls aren't lazy or careless. Several asked in writing for more training and support! Which means your client's amended return, or the payoff figure the title company needs, could be sitting in front of someone who worked in IT in January.

2. The IRS Is Paying More for Worse Answers

The employees reassigned to answering phones are doing work several pay grades below their real jobs but keeping their regular salaries. The IRS is paying them double or triple what a normal customer service rep makes.

They can't go back to the jobs they were hired for, though. One said he stayed in his job answering phones because there weren't any permanent IT jobs left, and others said the openings they applied for were canceled within days.

This is ridiculous. These are people now eight months into a temporary job they never asked for, with no job to return to, and they certainly don't know the Internal Revenue Manual well enough to tell you what your client can and can't do.

3. What an Answer From the IRS Is Really Worth

Most professionals get off an IRS call assuming the person they spoke to knows the rules. And why wouldn't they? Why would someone answering the phones at the IRS NOT know what they're talking about?

A bookkeeper recently sent me a client who owed about $38,000 and wanted a payment plan. She'd called the IRS and asked for a "Streamlined Installment Agreement," but was told she didn't qualify and had to fill out a full financial statement first, listing her income, bank accounts, cars, and home equity.

Whoever told her that was WRONG.

She qualified for a streamlined IA that doesn't require a financial statement at all. She probably qualified for a statute-based installment agreement too. She was about to hand the IRS her whole financial life for no reason, and once that information is in their file, it stays there.

Plenty of IRS reps know what they're doing and have experience. The problem is you can't tell which kind you've got, because a confident wrong answer sounds exactly like a confident right one.

4. What I Do on These Calls

The circumstances change drastically when I call the IRS. I know the rules even when IRS personnel don't. When I'm on a call, and the representative argues with me on a point I know they are wrong about, I thank the rep, hang up, and call back. A lot of the time, the second person tells me the exact opposite of what the first one said.

It sounds wacky, but that's what you have to do. Why sit on a call for a half hour arguing with a representative who doesn't know what they're talking about, even though they're absolutely sure they do and you don't?

Other times I ask which section of the manual they're going by. A rep who can point to one probably has the right answer, but many can't, and those are the employees who are going off a screen prompt or habit. If that doesn't work, I ask to speak to a manager.

TL;DR

⏩ About 1,500 IRS employees from IT and HR were moved into entry-level taxpayer service jobs in February, and the IRS now wants volunteers for a third round.

⏩ They report going weeks without system access, rushed training, and almost no time with supervisors.

⏩ The IRS is paying them double or triple the normal rate for the work.

⏩Many phone reps were hired within the past year.

⏩ Calling back often gets you a different answer, which proves the first one was never the rule.

⏩ Getting the right answer means knowing it before you call, asking for the manual section, asking for a manager, calling back when needed, and documenting everything.

Most professionals would rather do just about anything than sit on hold only to get the wrong answer or, alternatively, argue with the IRS about rules they don't know themselves.

So don't.

Because that's what I do every day.

BTW: CPAs and attorneys ask me the same three questions every time they have a client with a tax problem, so I wrote down the answers.

Want to understand your options before you call anyone?

Download my free book — Freedom From Tax Debt — a plain-language guide to how the IRS collections process actually works and what resolution really looks like.

➥ Contact Attorney Stephen A. Weisberg for a free Tax Debt Analysis.

Contact Me Here: https://www.weisberg.tax/contact-1

Email: s.weisberg@weisberg.tax

Phone/Text: (248) 971-0885

Address: 300 Galleria Officentre, Suite 402, Southfield, MI 48034