WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service’s overloaded phone system hung up on more than 8 million taxpayers this filing season as the agency cut millions of dollars from taxpayer services.
For those who weren’t disconnected, only 40 percent got through to a person. And many of those people were on hold for more than 30 minutes, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Wednesday.
The number of disconnected callers spiked as taxpayers were being hit with new requirements under the health law. For the first time, taxpayers had to report whether they had health insurance last year on their tax returns. Last year, the phone system dropped 360,000 calls, Koskinen said.
The IRS diverted money from customer service to other areas this year, such as computer upgrades to implement the health law.
Koskinen said budget cuts approved by Congress left him no choice. The agency’s budget has been cut by $1.2 billion since 2010. It now stands at $10.9 billion.
