Some IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers didn’t provide accurate tax guidance or properly assist walk-in taxpayers during the 2025 filing season, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which made 91 unannounced visits to 82 TACs nationwide.
TIGTA personnel didn’t receive full assistance during 30 of their 91 visits due to incomplete or inaccurate responses to tax law questions, denial of entry by security, or unexpected TAC closures, according to a new report. The visits were made during regular weekday hours, extended weekday hours, and Saturday Taxpayer Experience Day events at the centers.
Of the 61 visits where TIGTA inspectors were helped, TAC employees didn’t provide correct tax law guidance during 28 of those visits (46%).
TACs provided face-to-face assistance to taxpayers at more than 360 locations nationwide during fiscal year 2025. The IRS closed nine TACs in November 2025 to meet the requirements of an executive order from President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget guidance.
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The IRS provided extended weekday hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from January through May 2025 at 236 TAC locations. The centers also held 290 face-to-face Taxpayer Experience Day events on select Saturdays from February through June 2025 at 89 TAC locations.
During the 2025 filing season, the IRS assisted more than 925,000 taxpayers during the combined regular weekday hours, extended weekday hours, and Saturday Taxpayer Experience Day events, down 7% compared to the 2024 filing season when 997,600 taxpayers were assisted. The IRS held 41 more Taxpayer Experience Day events during the 2025 filing season, according to the report. In addition, the extended weekday hours saw a 31% increase in the number of taxpayers assisted from the 2024 filing season.
In 33% of TIGTA’s 91 unannounced visits, TAC employees, through brief interactions, didn’t provide complete or accurate responses to the IRS watchdog’s tax law questions (19 instances).
“These 19 instances were brief interactions where TAC employees, such as front desk greeters when entering the TAC, did not thoroughly review the required ITLA [Interactive Tax Law Assistant] prompts to answer our tax law questions,” TIGTA noted in the report.
For questions related to tax law topics, TAC employees must use the ITLA tool to respond to taxpayers, according to TIGTA. The ITLA tool asks a series of questions, then generates accurate and complete responses based on the taxpayer’s situation. The tool is designed for TAC employees and is intended to improve operational performance in the areas of quality, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction, the report says.
In addition, TIGTA was denied entry by a security guard in nine instances and TACs unexpectedly closed in two instances.
When inside the TACs, TIGTA personnel asked one of the following three general tax law questions to center employees to assess the accuracy of tax guidance provided:
- Injured spouse: “I got married last year and am filing a joint return with my spouse. However, I recently learned that my spouse had last year’s refund applied to a prior year’s unpaid taxes. Is there a way for me to get my share of any refund we may be owed?” (TIGTA received an incorrect response to this question during 20 of its visits.)
- Selling your main home: “Last year I bought a home but then I had to later sell it to relocate for work. Do I have to pay taxes on the sale?” (TIGTA received an incorrect response to this question during four of its visits.)
- American Opportunity Tax Credit: “I have read about credits for college expenses but am confused. Can I claim my dependent’s college tuition expenses to get a credit on my tax return?” (TIGTA received an incorrect response to this question during four of its visits.)
The report also states that TAC employees didn’t check for an available appointment and instead advised TIGTA inspectors to make an appointment in 17 of the 19 TAC visits where inspectors received incomplete or inaccurate information upon entering the center. However, an analysis of TAC appointment scheduling data showed there were available appointments within an hour of TIGTA personnel’s arrival.
In addition, TAC employees didn’t timely close appointments 96% of the time after the taxpayer didn’t show up for their appointment.
“As a result, walk-in taxpayers may not be offered available same-day appointments,” TIGTA said.
Lastly, TAC employees didn’t provide customer satisfaction survey cards during 19 of 22 (86%) visits where survey card distribution was required.
The survey gathers feedback on the taxpayer’s experience, including the professionalism of the TAC employees and timeliness of being seen by a TAC employee, with additional space for comments and suggestions for improvement. During the first half of FY 2025, the IRS offered surveys to 56,887 TAC visitors and received 17,091 responses, according to the report.
TIGTA made four recommendations, including that the IRS should add features to the scheduling software system to automatically close no-show appointments systemically notifying staff about newly available appointment slots, and prompt TAC employees to use the tax law reference tool; receive refresher training on checking for available appointments for walk-in taxpayers and on the use of the tax law reference tool when assisting taxpayers with tax law questions. IRS management agreed with all four of TIGTA’s recommendations.
“During the 2025 filing season, we continued modernizing the appointment process and enhancing the in-office experience,” Kenneth Corbin, chief of the IRS’s Taxpayer Services division, wrote in response to the report. “We are implementing additional system enhancements to improve visibility of appointment openings and allow available time to be reassigned more quickly.”
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