I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6966 

To require that the offices of the Internal Revenue Service are staffed with 

employees to answer phone calls during business hours and quickly confirm receipt of hard mail tax returns, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2022 

Ms. WILD (for herself and Mr. MEIJER) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To require that the offices of the Internal Revenue Service 

are staffed with employees to answer phone calls during 

business hours and quickly confirm receipt of hard mail 

tax returns, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Service for Tax5 payers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Internal Revenue Service administers 

2 and enforces the Federal tax laws of the United 

3 States and should seek to continually improve cus4 tomer service based on taxpayer needs and feedback. 

5 (2) The people of the United States deserve a 

6 communication system with the Internal Revenue 

7 Service that is reliable, efficient, accessible, and easy 

8 to navigate across multiple channels. 

9 (3) Many agencies, offices, programs, and Fed10 eral employees provide excellent customer experi11 ences to taxpayers. However, many aspects of the 

12 Federal Government still fall short on delivering the 

13 customer experience that individuals have come to 

14 expect from the private sector. 

15 (4) According to the 2020 American Customer 

16 Satisfaction Index Benchmark, which ranges from 0 

17 to 100, the Internal Revenue Service scored at or 

18 below average compared to customer satisfaction 

19 with other Federal agencies. The average score from 

20 individual e-filers was a 76, small business and self21 employed filers gave an average score of 67, and 

22 large business and international filers and individual 

23 paper filers gave an average score of 59. 

24 (5) The amount of funding spent on taxpayer 

25 assistance and education decreased by $5,000,000 


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1 between fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2020. The 

2 number of employees providing these services 

3 dropped by 29 percent, and the number of customer 

4 service representatives decreased by 41 percent. 

5 (6) The Internal Revenue Service spent nearly 

6 15 percent less during fiscal year 2020 when com7 pared to fiscal year 2010 in examinations and collec8 tions. During this time period, the number of Inter9 nal Revenue Service employees working in this area 

10 declined by 32 percent and the number of Internal 

11 Revenue Service employees working as revenue 

12 agents declined by 40 percent. 

13 (7) Completing the hiring process for prospec14 tive Internal Revenue Service employees can take the 

15 agency approximately six to eight months. 

16 (8) Taxpayers will experience an easier, clearer, 

17 and quicker tax filing system if the Internal Revenue 

18 Service provides more reliable and efficient customer 

19 service and taxpayer support services. 

20 (9) To improve services to taxpayers, the Inter21 nal Revenue Service should work across its depart22 ments, leverage updated technology to track tax re23 turns, and enhance the customer service experience. 

24 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

25 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) the Internal Revenue Service should im2 prove its taxpayer support services and customer 

3 service experiences for the people of the United 

4 States. To do this, the Internal Revenue Service 

5 must develop an efficient system that enables tax6 payers to track the process of their tax submissions 

7 and receive timely support when submitting an in8 quiry to the Internal Revenue Service, 

9 (2) adequate funding is needed to ensure that 

10 Internal Revenue Service workforce, staffing levels, 

11 and technological resources can provide the public 

12 with improved customer service and problem resolu13 tion. A significant portion of Internal Revenue Serv14 ice funding should be spent on increasing the num15 ber of employees in taxpayer-facing positions, includ16 ing employees working to address taxpayer questions 

17 and as customer service staff, 

18 (3) Congress should appropriate the funding 

19 necessary to enable the IRS to achieve these im20 proved standards for taxpayer services and support, 

21 (4) the Internal Revenue Service should accel22 erate its hiring timeline for onboarding new employ23 ees, to enable an easy career transition for incoming 

24 employees and ensure the Internal Revenue Service 


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1 is not losing prospective employees because of a slow 

2 hiring process, and 

3 (5) the Internal Revenue Service should expe4 dite its ongoing efforts to develop and expand elec5 tronic portals, through which taxpayers can check 

6 the status of their tax returns and submit inquiries 

7 to the Internal Revenue Service. 

8 SEC. 4. TAXPAYER SERVICE REQUIREMENTS. 

9 (a) TELEPHONE AVAILABILITY.—The Commissioner 

10 of Internal Revenue shall ensure that each office and divi11 sion of the Internal Revenue Service is staffed with em12 ployees to answer phone calls during standard business 

13 hours, including 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, Mon14 days through Fridays, excluding Federal holidays. 

15 (b) MAIL SUBMISSIONS.—The Commissioner of In16 ternal Revenue shall ensure that within 15 business days 

17 of receipt of a mailed tax return, the Internal Revenue 

18 Service shall acknowledge receipt of such tax return by 

19 mailing the taxpayer a hard copy response letter, which 

20 shall include a phone number for the taxpayer to call with 

21 questions and a statement notifying the taxpayer that 

22 their tax return is being processed by the Internal Rev23 enue Service. 


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1 SEC. 5. SERVICE REQUIREMENT IMPROVEMENT REPORT. 

2 Not later than 365 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commis4 sioner of Internal Revenue shall provide an annual report 

5 to Congress on the status of its efforts to reach the goals 

6 of improving services to taxpayers. Such report shall in7 clude specific progress updates relating to the telephone 

8 availability requirements of section 4(a) and the mail sub9 missions requirements of section 4(b), and may include re10 quests for additional support from Congress, as needed, 

11 to improve service to taxpayers by the Internal Revenue 

12 Service. 

Æ 


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