IRS delays in resolving identity theft ‘unconscionable’: watchdog [Video]

An independent watchdog within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported Wednesday that while taxpayer services in the U.S. have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases with delays that are “unconscionable.”

Overall, the 2024 filing season went smoothly, according to the latest National Taxpayer Advocate report to Congress, especially after the IRS received a massive funding boost provided by the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022.

“Not to be overly dramatic, but during the last four years, I believe we have progressed from a place of despair to a place of hope and optimism for the future of the agency and therefore for taxpayers,” said Erin M. Collins, who leads the organization assigned to protect taxpayers’ rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Still, she said, “IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are …