WASHINGTON — The IRS did better than expected getting refunds out to taxpayers during the 2026 tax season despite massive cuts to its workforce, but the national taxpayer advocate says taxpayers who needed human help were left behind.
“Taxpayers who required assistance from the IRS often struggled to get it,” said Erin M. Collins, who leads the independent watchdog agency of the IRS.
Collins earlier this year warned that the 2026 tax filing season was likely to present challenges for taxpayers who encounter problems with filing their taxes given the exodus of IRS workers since the start of the Trump administration.
The IRS started 2025 with about 102,000 employees and finished with about 74,000 after a series of firings and layoffs brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk. Last year, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were not allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline. This year, many of those customer service workers have left.
Collins in a report released Wednesday, said that overall, the IRS performed better than she expected. “The vast majority of taxpayers filed their returns successfully and received their refunds without significant delay.”
Technology improvements and automation helped prevent a total meltdown during the tax season, according to the report. The IRS said in a statement that expanded self-service options and other tech improvements allowed IRS staff to assist taxpayers with more complex cases.
However, the agency fell short in answering phones, the report said. Some 59% of calls on major accounts management lines were answered, but taxpayers on compliance lines got through only 34% of the time, and the line that handles identity theft victims got through only 19% of the time.
Identity theft victims overall have to wait nearly two years for help from the IRS, the report said. This is a long-standing issue at the agency.
The taxpayer advocate report says more than 500,000 identity-theft victims continue to face average case resolution times of roughly 20 months, with average processing times approaching 600 days.
