IRS’s 2024 Tax Filing Season Success: Enhanced Services and Customer Satisfaction

WASHINGTON — As the April tax filing deadline arrives, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proudly announces significant advancements that have greatly enhanced services for millions of taxpayers during the 2024 filing season.

Thanks to the funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has been able to expand its taxpayer service levels to unprecedented heights, surpassing those seen in over a decade. A comparison to the previous year reveals that this tax season alone witnessed the IRS answering over 1 million more taxpayer phone calls, assisting over 170,000 additional individuals in person, and experiencing an influx of 75 million more visits to IRS.gov, primarily driven by the newly enhanced Where’s My Refund? tool.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel expressed his satisfaction with the improvements, stating, “Taxpayers continued to see major improvements from the IRS during the 2024 tax season. A well-funded IRS is like night and day for taxpayers. With the help of more funding and added resources, service for taxpayers this filing season eclipsed levels seen during the past decade. This tax season meant real-world improvements for people looking for help, whether calling, visiting in-person or using IRS.gov.”

While acknowledging the ongoing work and further improvements that lie ahead, Werfel emphasized the positive trajectory of transforming the IRS to better serve taxpayers. He stated, “We still have much more work to do, both to finish the 2024 tax season as well as put in place continued improvements made possible by Inflation Reduction Act funding. But this filing season marks another important chapter where we’ve improved service for taxpayers, continuing an accelerating trend in the story of transforming the IRS.”

Key statistics from the historic 2024 tax season at the IRS, covering late March and early April, are as follows:

1. Improved phone service: The addition of 5,000 new telephone assistors led to the IRS achieving a level of service exceeding 88% on its main phone lines, surpassing last year’s 84% and representing a more than five-fold increase from the pandemic era period in 2022 when service levels were at a mere 15%.
2. More calls answered: The IRS handled 16.8% more taxpayer calls on its live assistor lines compared to the previous year, processing a total of 7,608,000 calls, along with an additional approximately 7 million calls handled by IRS automated lines, which is 280,000 more than the previous year.
3. Faster response times: Taxpayers experienced an average wait time of just over three minutes on the IRS main phone lines, down from four minutes in 2023 and a significant improvement from the 28-minute wait time during the 2022 filing season.
4. More callback options: The IRS offered callback options on 97% of its phone lines this filing season, resulting in over 4 million taxpayers benefiting from this service, which is more than double the number of calls offered in 2023. This saved taxpayers nearly 1.4 million hours of wait time on the phones.
5. More in-person help: The IRS assisted 170,000 more taxpayers in-person this filing season compared to the previous year. Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) served 648,000 taxpayers, marking a 37% increase from 2023’s figure of 474,000.
6. Expanded in-person hours: The IRS extended the operating hours at 242 TAC locations nationwide, providing over 11,000 additional service hours for taxpayers during the 2024 filing season. Additionally, the IRS offered taxpayer assistance on Saturdays at more than 70 locations, making it more convenient for hard-working taxpayers to seek help.
7. Additional free help at volunteer sites: The IRS observed a rise in tax return preparation work at volunteer sites, with over 2.3 million returns filed this tax season, an increase of 200,000 compared to the previous year through initiatives such as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites.
8. More taxpayers filing for free: The IRS witnessed a higher number of taxpayers filing for free this year, including returns filed through volunteer sites, Direct File, and Free File. In total, there were over 450,000 more returns filed through these channels. The Direct File pilot, introduced on a limited basis in 12 states and widely opened in mid-March, generated more than 60,000 tax returns. Additionally, the IRS partnership with Free File partners offering free private-sector software via IRS.gov saw a growth of 11.2%, with over 2 million tax returns filed, exceeding the previous year by more than 200,000 Free File returns.
9. Higher usage of IRS.gov: IRS.gov experienced a significant surge in traffic driven by the expanded information available through the enhanced Where’s My Refund? tool for the 2024 filing season. The website recorded nearly 500 million visits, an 18% increase compared to the previous year, with Where’s My Refund? accounting for over 275 million of thosevisits.

Overall, the 2024 tax filing season showcased substantial improvements in taxpayer services provided by the IRS. With increased funding and additional resources, the IRS was able to answer more phone calls, assist more individuals in person, and handle a significant rise in website traffic. These enhancements resulted in improved phone service, faster response times, expanded callback options, extended in-person assistance hours, and increased usage of free filing options. The IRS’s efforts reflect a commitment to transforming its services and better serving taxpayers, with further improvements planned for the future.