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Sequester Hits IRS, More than 89,000 Employees Furloughed
by ALISA WIERSEMA
April 23, 2013
A little more than a month into the sequester and fresh out of tax season, the Internal Revenue Service has decided to issue furlough notices to all of its employees next week.
According to an internal memo issued by Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, "Everyone is covered by this furlough, and that means everyone from the Acting Commissioner and executives to managers and employees."
The first furlough days will include May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and August 30, with another two days possible in August or September.
On these days, all operations directed at the public, including toll-free help and Taxpayer Assistance Centers, will be closed.
According to the IRS Data Book, these furloughed services were used by more than 97 million taxpayers in the 2012 fiscal year. The agency processed more than 237 million tax returns and provided $373 billion in refunds to taxpayers, while collecting $2.5 trillion for the federal government.
Today my son needed to call the IRS to get three years' transcripts sent to him (his are in storage in Korea somewhere and he needs them now).
There is no phone number on the site that will get you to a live person. Thru their autmated phone system, you can get transcripts sent to you, but only to the last address they have listed. If you've moved, too bad. They won't forward that mail. And since you can't talk to a live person, you can't get your address changed over the phone.
So we called the number on the website to our local office. This is the recording we got: "We do not accept calls at this number. You must come to the office. Hours are 8:30 to 4:30."
So, we went down to the IRS office, in our town of about 100,000 people. We got there at 2 pm. There were about 15 people in the office and another five or six waiting outside (they won't let you stand in the office, or sit on the floor and they only have 15 chairs). We had to take a number so we did.
We waited for forty minutes. Only one person was called that entire time. Then a security guard came out and told us that the last person would be seen at 3:45. The office closes at 4:30. So of course, there was no way everyone would be seen -and certainly not us because there were at least 18 people ahead of us.
So we asked if the numbers "carried over" to the next day. No, of course not. We asked how many IRS workers are assigned to this office. We were told there is one worker. Never more than one worker. Office hours are 8;30 to 4:30 but the worker takes a one hour lunch. He told us to be outside in line at 7 am if we wanted to be seen tomorrow.
I told my son he's on his own tomorrow! Oh, and you can't use cell phones in the office - not even to text or get online. You can't have them out. There are no magazines. There is a TV that's tuned to a news station. Thank goodness.
I don't think tis a silver cloud just who governamtn decided to cut in sequester deal both parties agreed to. They created it now need to manage it .Too mnay fear stories goigaround we just need to adjuct and make the best of a bad thing that needed to be done.We can lok at private sector and see similar or worse numbers in cuts that tool palce like 3 yeara ago i permanent cuts.
3 hour delays on your flights and now no refunds.
Gee..think your government is "making you pay" because they have to cut ?
More like shoving austerity in your face HARD to get a whiff and belly up to the tax man to keep BAU
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