[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6966 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6966
To require that the offices of the Internal Revenue Service are staffed
with employees to answer phone calls during business hours and quickly
confirm receipt of hard mail tax returns, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2022
Ms. Wild (for herself and Mr. Meijer) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require that the offices of the Internal Revenue Service are staffed
with employees to answer phone calls during business hours and quickly
confirm receipt of hard mail tax returns, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Better Service for Taxpayers Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Internal Revenue Service administers and enforces
the Federal tax laws of the United States and should seek to
continually improve customer service based on taxpayer needs
and feedback.
(2) The people of the United States deserve a communication
system with the Internal Revenue Service that is reliable,
efficient, accessible, and easy to navigate across multiple
channels.
(3) Many agencies, offices, programs, and Federal employees
provide excellent customer experiences to taxpayers. However,
many aspects of the Federal Government still fall short on
delivering the customer experience that individuals have come
to expect from the private sector.
(4) According to the 2020 American Customer Satisfaction
Index Benchmark, which ranges from 0 to 100, the Internal
Revenue Service scored at or below average compared to customer
satisfaction with other Federal agencies. The average score
from individual e-filers was a 76, small business and self-
employed filers gave an average score of 67, and large business
and international filers and individual paper filers gave an
average score of 59.
(5) The amount of funding spent on taxpayer assistance and
education decreased by $5,000,000 between fiscal year 2010 and
fiscal year 2020. The number of employees providing these
services dropped by 29 percent, and the number of customer
service representatives decreased by 41 percent.
(6) The Internal Revenue Service spent nearly 15 percent
less during fiscal year 2020 when compared to fiscal year 2010
in examinations and collections. During this time period, the
number of Internal Revenue Service employees working in this
area declined by 32 percent and the number of Internal Revenue
Service employees working as revenue agents declined by 40
percent.
(7) Completing the hiring process for prospective Internal
Revenue Service employees can take the agency approximately six
to eight months.
(8) Taxpayers will experience an easier, clearer, and
quicker tax filing system if the Internal Revenue Service
provides more reliable and efficient customer service and
taxpayer support services.
(9) To improve services to taxpayers, the Internal Revenue
Service should work across its departments, leverage updated
technology to track tax returns, and enhance the customer
service experience.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Internal Revenue Service should improve its
taxpayer support services and customer service experiences for
the people of the United States. To do this, the Internal
Revenue Service must develop an efficient system that enables
taxpayers to track the process of their tax submissions and
receive timely support when submitting an inquiry to the
Internal Revenue Service,
(2) adequate funding is needed to ensure that Internal
Revenue Service workforce, staffing levels, and technological
resources can provide the public with improved customer service
and problem resolution. A significant portion of Internal
Revenue Service funding should be spent on increasing the
number of employees in taxpayer-facing positions, including
employees working to address taxpayer questions and as customer
service staff,
(3) Congress should appropriate the funding necessary to
enable the IRS to achieve these improved standards for taxpayer
services and support,
(4) the Internal Revenue Service should accelerate its
hiring timeline for onboarding new employees, to enable an easy
career transition for incoming employees and ensure the
Internal Revenue Service is not losing prospective employees
because of a slow hiring process, and
(5) the Internal Revenue Service should expedite its
ongoing efforts to develop and expand electronic portals,
through which taxpayers can check the status of their tax
returns and submit inquiries to the Internal Revenue Service.
SEC. 4. TAXPAYER SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Telephone Availability.--The Commissioner of Internal Revenue
shall ensure that each office and division of the Internal Revenue
Service is staffed with employees to answer phone calls during standard
business hours, including 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, Mondays
through Fridays, excluding Federal holidays.
(b) Mail Submissions.--The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall
ensure that within 15 business days of receipt of a mailed tax return,
the Internal Revenue Service shall acknowledge receipt of such tax
return by mailing the taxpayer a hard copy response letter, which shall
include a phone number for the taxpayer to call with questions and a
statement notifying the taxpayer that their tax return is being
processed by the Internal Revenue Service.
SEC. 5. SERVICE REQUIREMENT IMPROVEMENT REPORT.
Not later than 365 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, and annually thereafter, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
shall provide an annual report to Congress on the status of its efforts
to reach the goals of improving services to taxpayers. Such report
shall include specific progress updates relating to the telephone
availability requirements of section 4(a) and the mail submissions
requirements of section 4(b), and may include requests for additional
support from Congress, as needed, to improve service to taxpayers by
the Internal Revenue Service.
<all>