The Most Irritating Phrase in Tax: The IRS Hasn't Responded
Every professional who works with people’s money eventually hears some version of it.
The IRS hasn't responded.
It wreaks havoc in the financial space. Cash flow never materializes. Closings can't happen. A settlement stalls out. It's the client's case that can't move forward because one unresolved issue stops everything from moving forward.
Recently, the Erin Collins and the Taxpayer Advocate Service released its Annual Report to Congress, which provides structure and data explaining why "the IRS hasn't responded."
For professionals whose clients have tax debt—or unresolved tax issues hovering in the background—these realities explain why otherwise solvable situations so often feel stuck.
Four Critical Findings
1. Processing and Refund Delays Are a Structural Problem
The IRS processed approximately 1.6 million business amended returns during FY 2025. The average processing time was over 13 months.
That’s not a delay. That’s an entire business cycle.
For individuals, amended returns averaged more than five months. And while that sounds less severe on paper, it’s devastating in practice when refunds are at times expected to cover medical expenses, debt consolidation, or basic cash flow needs.
Timing is a problem, but uncertainty is even more troublesome.
When the IRS disallows a refund claim, the notices are often unclear and incomplete. Critical information—like deadlines to preserve judicial review or extend the time to file suit—can be buried, missing, or misunderstood. Clients wait, assuming silence means progress. Meanwhile, procedural clocks keep running.
By the time anyone realizes there’s a problem, the opportunity to fix it may already be gone.
2. Paper Is Still Running the IRS—And It Slows Everything Down
Despite years of talk about modernization, the IRS still relies heavily on paper for original returns, amended returns, and taxpayer correspondence.
Paper introduces three predictable outcomes:
Longer processing times
Higher error rates
Repeated back-and-forth to fix mistakes no one intended to make
Transcription errors create mismatched records. Mismatched records trigger notices. Notices generate responses—often on paper again. And every cycle adds more delay.
For professionals, this shows up as:
Inconsistent transcripts
Conflicting balances
Accounts that don’t reflect reality
For clients, it feels like you're taking crazy pills.
3. The IRS Phone System Measures Activity—Not Resolution
The IRS received over 100 million phone calls last year.
The problem is, the IRS counts a successful call as one that's answered, not the quality of the call or outcome.
Professionals are often left explaining why “we got through” doesn’t mean “we made progress.” And when multiple calls are required just to clarify basic account status, timelines start slipping everywhere else.
Plus, most calls aren’t included in the IRS’s primary benchmark for successful phone service. Millions were routed through voicebot technology—tools that taxpayers overwhelmingly report as unhelpful. Satisfaction surveys show only about half of users found the “Where’s My Refund?” bot useful, and fewer found the amended return bot helpful.
Here’s the disconnect: The IRS tracks whether a call was answered. Clients care whether anything was solved.
4. Online Tools Exist—But Not in Ways That Match Professional Reality
The report also highlights ongoing issues with online accounts and practitioner tools.
Authorization files lag behind reality. Online systems don’t always reflect current account conditions. Requests for records—including FOIA requests for a taxpayer’s own information—can take months.
This creates an uncomfortable dynamic: professionals are expected to advise, plan, negotiate, or settle matters without full visibility into the facts.
That's a dangerous game to be playing when deadlines, transactions, and/or court schedules exist.
TL;DR
⏩ Refund delays are stretching into months and years, creating real financial strain
⏩ Paper processing continues to slow everything and introduce errors
⏩ IRS phone metrics don’t reflect whether problems are actually solved
⏩ Online tools for professionals remain limited and incomplete
➥ Contact Attorney Stephen A. Weisberg for a free Tax Debt Analysis.
Contact Me Here: https://www.weisberg.tax/contact-1
Email: sweisberg@wtaxattorney.com
Phone/Text: (248) 971-0885
Address: 300 Galleria Officentre, Suite 402, Southfield, MI 48034
