The IRS generally performed well when handling tax returns this year for 2025, but there were some problems, a watchdog said on June 24.
The IRS processed some 139 million individual tax returns, provided more than 90 million refunds, and successfully implemented major changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in a report to Congress. About 98 percent of the returns were submitted electronically, and about the same percent of refunds were delivered through direct deposit.
“Entering the 2026 filing season, there was considerable uncertainty about the IRS’s ability to successfully manage a convergence of major challenges: implementation of sweeping new tax legislation, significant workforce reductions, and extensive leadership turnover,” Collins wrote.
“In the end, the IRS performed better than expected in most respects. The vast majority of taxpayers filed their returns successfully and received their refunds without significant delay. IRS leadership and its workforce deserve substantial credit for that accomplishment, particularly given the extraordinary operational pressures they overcame.”
Collins had said in January that the 2025 filing season went well in part because the IRS had its largest workforce in years, and did not have to deal with any major changes to tax law.
“Entering 2026, the landscape is markedly different,“ she said at the time. ”The IRS is simultaneously confronting a reduction of 27% of its workforce, leadership turnover, and the implementation of extensive and complex tax law changes mandated by the [One Big Beautiful Bill] Act, many of which apply retroactively and require significant IRS programming, guidance, changes to tax forms and instructions, and taxpayer education.”
The IRS did fall short in some respects in recent months, Collins said on Wednesday, including not providing refunds to more than one million taxpayers within the IRS’s normal processing time. The average wait for those people was 5.5 weeks.
People seeking assistance over the phone also faced difficulties, according to the report.
In 2025, 25 percent of the 50.2 million calls received by the IRS were answered, and there was an average wait time of eight minutes. In 2026, just 21 percent of the 48.1 million calls were answered, and the average wait time was up to 14 minutes on average.
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Collins said the filing season highlighted how the IRS needs to improve with respect to the segment of Americans who need personalized help.
“A digital-first strategy can improve tax administration but must not become a digital-only strategy,” she said. “As the IRS continues to transform its operations, it must preserve meaningful access to telephone assistance, in-person service, clear notices, timely correspondence, and effective case resolution functions. Taxpayers must be able to understand what is expected of them, obtain help when they need it, and trust they will be treated fairly when problems arise. Those principles are fundamental to taxpayer rights and essential to maintaining public confidence in our tax system.”
