There are changes in 2016 as to how you can deal with the IRS to improve your tax filing experience.

1. Thankfully, in 2016 if you actually try and call the IRS you might get through to a real person. In 2015 only 38% of all calls actually reached a person at the IRS, even after very long wait times. An astonishing 8 million calls to the IRS in 2015 ended in what they call a “courtesy disconnect”, they just hand up on you. Thanks to a getting an additional $290 million from Congress the IRS plans to hire about 1,000 additional people. I guess that is good news, but if you just start hiring them now, how experienced will they be this tax season to answer your questions?
2. Did you know that the IRS provides access to FREE TAX FILING SOFTWARE and electronic submissions? It’s called the IRS Free File program, check it out HERE. There are some income restrictions and the IRS estimates that 70% of all taxpayers will qualify for the free software.
3. It is in your best interest to get your taxes filed electronically as soon as possible, especially if like me you live in Florida. Why? Well we’d all like to get refunds faster, but the real reason is to combat identity theft. About 110 million taxpayers will file for a refund this year. In 2013 about 1 million fraudulent filings were made and these were worth $5.8 billion! The IRS says they are getting better at spotting fraud, we’ll see. In prior years the IRS accepted fraudulent returns from people who deposited up to 50 tax returns checks into the same exact bank account! This year the limit is 3 deposits into the same account.
4. Tax audit rates will continue to drop again due to budget issues. More bad news is that when the IRS does an audit it is usually 2-3 years behind and difficult for the taxpayer to recall all the details.