Advisory Panel Issues Latest Call to Improve IRS Technology

An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) advisory committee is calling on the agency to improve its technology to better communicate with taxpayers, including steps to enhance online tools and expand chatbot and live chat capabilities.

In its 2025 Annual Report issued on April 24, the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) identified faster and more responsive telephone service as a consistent issue for taxpayers, especially as the IRS receives more than 100 million calls each year.

To help, the panel recommended expanding chatbot and live chat capabilities, along with improvements in those capabilities such as secure access, expanded features, and more personalized assistance.

“These tools can help taxpayers get answers faster while easing demand on phone lines,” said the panel, an independent advisory group made up of citizen volunteers.

The taxpayer advocacy panel also recommended a number of steps to enhance IRS online tools and digital services to expand secure self-service options for taxpayers and improve their experience.

Among them was the IRS adding a standard message at the top of IRS notices encouraging taxpayers to create an online account. TAP suggested specific language for the notice, but wrote that it had been making the recommendation for three years.

Another TAP suggestion is aimed at using technology to improve the experience of taxpayers with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). The panel recommended creating an online tool that would allow taxpayers to check the status of their ITINs before filing, saying the change would help identify ITIN errors, minimizing processing delays.

The IRS has not yet responded to the ITINs recommendation, which was submitted in July, the report said.

The technology-focused recommendations were among 188 from TAP’s six principal project committees aimed at improving IRS operations, many with the theme of enhancing IRS communications by improving the clarity of tax forms and publications.

While the recommendations were submitted by late November, the IRS has not yet responded to 169 of them, while not adopting 15 and considering four.

“In 2025, TAP members dedicated hundreds of volunteer hours to grassroots outreach, listening directly to taxpayers across the country and abroad and elevating the real-world challenges they face,” said National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins. “By partnering with the IRS to advance practical, taxpayer-focused solutions, TAP plays a critical role in strengthening taxpayer rights and making tax administration more transparent, accessible, and responsive.”

The report was the latest call from a range of taxpayer advocates to upgrade the IRS’s outdated legacy IT systems. Collins said last year that while the agency had made notable improvements, more funding for technology modernization is needed.

Congress provided the IRS with about $79 billion in additional funding over a 10-year period in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to help with modernization efforts.

But lawmakers later rescinded or repealed $40 billion of that funding, which, combined with an IRS staff exodus, has led former IRS managers to say the recent technology upgrades are at risk.

In March, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said more than 17,000 employees – about 17% of the IRS workforce – resigned or retired early in 2025. An internal IRS report, GAO revealed, found that critical technology systems would not be ready for the start of the current filing season that began in late January.