Don’t Expect IRS to Answer Stimulus Payment Questions By Phone

The IRS doesn’t have any near-term plans to reopen its toll-free telephone lines for questions about coronavirus relief payments, even though it has already begun sending money to millions of individuals, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg Tax.

The agency is instead directing people to find answers on its website, according to the memo, which summarized an April 10 briefing the IRS gave to the National Treasury Employees Union. The NTEU represents more than 150,000 federal employees in 33 agencies, including the IRS.

The IRS has closed all of its major campuses to protect employees from Covid-19, which in turn has forced the agency to suspend nearly all of its phone lines because of staff shortages. As the agency’s watchdog noted in a report released Monday, the IRS is testing options for telephone assistors to telework. But until that effort becomes operational, taxpayers and their advisers will continue to have a difficult time getting answers to questions they can’t solve online, including inquiries about stimulus payments.

The NTEU verified that the information in the memo sums up what it was told by the agency at the end of last week and that it hasn’t received any updates since then. The union, according to other recent briefing notes obtained by Bloomberg Tax, has also asked the agency whether it will eventually train employees on how to respond to questions about stimulus payments.

The NTEU directed any further questions to the IRS. The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency told the union that if the IRS needed to answer calls it could do so from a telework location, according to the memo. But the memo said the only phone line currently operational is a collection line used by international callers.

Individuals who have already provided the IRS with direct deposit information will start seeing the stimulus money hit their bank accounts this week, Sunita Lough, the deputy commissioner for services and enforcement at the IRS, said Monday on a webcast hosted by the Tax Policy Center.

The agency sent more than 80 million payments out at the end of last week, Lough said. Millions more may have to wait weeks or even months to see the stimulus money.