It’s not a static situation, Mankowski emphasized, noting that while the service is catching up on returns already filed, more returns are coming in.
And it’s more than just having the money to hire additional personnel, he suggested: “Even if they had the money and had the people willing to work, they couldn’t just snap their fingers and put 50, 100 or 500 people to work manning the phone lines. It takes at least 12 to 18 weeks to train someone to answer and assist callers. They have to understand the systems, and be able to understand and interpret what’s going on.”
In some cases they need to have people with better knowledge or information to help on practitioner lines, Mankowski observed. “But in a lot of cases, it’s easier to explain the issues to a practitioner than it is to taxpayers,” he said. “There’s a lot of training that is necessary to have someone able to assist all levels of taxpayers.”
The late December 2020 changes affected the 2021 filing season, he noted. “The reconciliation of the Economic Impact Payments is anticipated to be fixed within the computer system shortly, and they are hoping for the same with the Child Tax Credits. The IRS is looking to send out notices to taxpayers verifying their child tax payments, and the data is expected to also be available on the IRS portal.”
Other developments that were discussed at the meeting included the launch on July 18 of Tax Pro Accounts. “So far, over 37,000 sessions have logged into the accounts,” Mankowski said. “Nine thousand of these have initiated [power of attorney] requests, with 3,000 of those fully created and authenticated.”
A lot of the early users were “tire kickers,” according to Mankowski. “They might have been wanting to go through the motions. They had a general idea of how it works from watching the videos, but wanted to try out a dummy case just to test drive the system.”
The Secure Access Digital Identity, or SADI, was also launched with respect to the Child Tax Credits, with 4.1 million users seeking to gain credentials. SADI will be implemented into Tax Pro Accounts in November 2021. “The goal is that SADI will assist in allowing taxpayer authentication,” Mankowski explained.
And it’s more than just having the money to hire additional personnel, he suggested: “Even if they had the money and had the people willing to work, they couldn’t just snap their fingers and put 50, 100 or 500 people to work manning the phone lines. It takes at least 12 to 18 weeks to train someone to answer and assist callers. They have to understand the systems, and be able to understand and interpret what’s going on.”
In some cases they need to have people with better knowledge or information to help on practitioner lines, Mankowski observed. “But in a lot of cases, it’s easier to explain the issues to a practitioner than it is to taxpayers,” he said. “There’s a lot of training that is necessary to have someone able to assist all levels of taxpayers.”
The late December 2020 changes affected the 2021 filing season, he noted. “The reconciliation of the Economic Impact Payments is anticipated to be fixed within the computer system shortly, and they are hoping for the same with the Child Tax Credits. The IRS is looking to send out notices to taxpayers verifying their child tax payments, and the data is expected to also be available on the IRS portal.”
Other developments that were discussed at the meeting included the launch on July 18 of Tax Pro Accounts. “So far, over 37,000 sessions have logged into the accounts,” Mankowski said. “Nine thousand of these have initiated [power of attorney] requests, with 3,000 of those fully created and authenticated.”
A lot of the early users were “tire kickers,” according to Mankowski. “They might have been wanting to go through the motions. They had a general idea of how it works from watching the videos, but wanted to try out a dummy case just to test drive the system.”
The Secure Access Digital Identity, or SADI, was also launched with respect to the Child Tax Credits, with 4.1 million users seeking to gain credentials. SADI will be implemented into Tax Pro Accounts in November 2021. “The goal is that SADI will assist in allowing taxpayer authentication,” Mankowski explained.