The Treasury Inspector General has found a problem with the waiting call time to IRS.

Any tax professional can telling you IRS has a MAJOR PROBLEM. This problem will probably never be addressed because of budget cuts.

The call times reported below is for the general phone number to IRS . Try to call IRS Collections ?  You may die waiting for them to answers.

 The Inspectors General Report.

More taxpayers are calling the IRS’s toll-free telephone lines every year. During the 2011 Filing Season, the IRS received approximately 80 million attempts to call the toll-free telephone lines, up from 54 million (48 percent), during the 2007 Filing Season—the last filing season with a Level of Service more than 80 percent. Taxpayers waited on average 10 minutes to speak to an assistor, a 137 percent increase since the 2007 Filing Season.

The IRS exceeded its key 2011 Filing Season toll?free telephone assistance performance goals. The IRS planned to achieve a 71 percent Level of Service and a 680-second Average Speed of Answer. Instead, it achieved a 74.6 percent Level of Service and a 596?second Average Speed of Answer.

During Fiscal Year 2008, the IRS implemented the Estimated Wait Time Message Pilot on six toll-free telephone applications. The message provides a real?time message that informs taxpayers of their expected wait time to reach an assistor. This allows taxpayers to make more informed decisions on whether to wait for an assistor or hang up and call at another time. Currently, the Estimated Wait Time Message is on 74 percent of the IRS’s assistor-staffed applications.

TIGTA evaluated a sample of 33 calls made to the toll?free 1-800-829-1040 telephone number that individual taxpayers call to ask tax account or tax law questions. The IRS provided an Estimated Wait Time Message and an assistor answered on 30 calls. The other three calls were disconnected prior to reaching an assistor or an Estimated Wait Time was not given.

The Estimated Wait Time was accurate for 24 (80 percent) of 30 calls.