2026 Filing Season: Preliminary Observations on IRS Performance

Filed 1w ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

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Plaint

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Baker, Cornelia, 1855- · No restrictions · via Wikimedia Commons

GAO found IRS processed about 98 percent of 177 million returns in the 2026 filing season, matching last year's rate, but paper returns took roughly twice as long due to unavailable systems and reduced staffing.

Following a 2025 executive order phasing out paper check refunds, IRS sent 4.2 million notices asking taxpayers for direct deposit information, delaying refunds for those who didn't respond.

Customer service cratered: average phone wait time jumped from 3 to 8 minutes, IRS answered 2 million fewer calls, and in-person visits dropped 15 percent as offices thinned out.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Turning refunds into a bureaucratic scavenger hunt for direct deposit details is one way to modernize government — mostly by making taxpayers do the legwork the agency used to handle. Efficiency, it turns out, is just a word for fewer people picking up the phone.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: Plaint · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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