HR7971-119

What This Bill Does

The Taxpayer Experience Improvement Act directs the Treasury Secretary to require the Internal Revenue Service to provide several digital customer-service tools. The IRS must publish real-time public website data for each applicable phone extension showing callers connected to live representatives or automated systems, callers waiting, longest wait time, callback availability, a wait-time estimator, an API for automated access, monthly call summaries, and significant-delay notices. The IRS must also use technology to detect and screen out automated calls. Within the first calendar year beginning more than 12 months after enactment, taxpayers must be able to see individualized return and amended-return status through a website and mobile application, including whether the IRS received, entered, processed, refunded, or suspended a return, refund date estimates, electronic-fund-transfer account details, paper-check addresses, suspension reasons, requested information, submission method, and due dates. Congress also states that by calendar year 2028 taxpayers, including taxpayers outside the United States, should receive callback options for calls not answered within five minutes. Within the first calendar year beginning more than 18 months after enactment, the IRS must expand online accounts so taxpayers and authorized representatives can view returns, documents, notices, and letters, upload responses, and manage multi-taxpayer access for representatives, preparers, and qualified reporting agents.

Who Benefits and How

Individual taxpayers benefit from clearer refund and return status, less blind waiting on IRS phone lines, and online access to IRS notices and letters. Taxpayers living outside the United States benefit because the callback policy explicitly includes them. Authorized taxpayer representatives benefit from online access to multiple taxpayers' IRS information when permission is granted. Tax return preparers benefit from structured account access and faster document retrieval for client work. Qualified reporting agents benefit from account tools that support multiple authorized taxpayers. Civic technology developers benefit from API access to IRS wait-time and backlog data. Congressional tax-writing committees benefit from more visible service-performance data.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Internal Revenue Service must build and maintain real-time dashboards, wait estimators, API access, automated-call screening, mobile return-status tools, refund detail displays, suspension notices, callback systems, online accounts, representative-access workflows, and upload features. Treasury technology officials must prescribe periods and rules for making documents available. IRS call-center managers must collect and publish extension-level wait and call outcome metrics. IRS privacy and security staff must protect return information under section 6103 while expanding digital access. Taxpayer representatives, preparers, and reporting agents must manage authorization and access requirements. Federal budget managers may face implementation costs for new IRS technology.

Key Provisions

• Requires a real-time IRS public dashboard showing phone-line backlogs, wait times, callback availability, and automated-system usage.
• Requires an embedded wait-time estimator and API access for call-center and backlog information.
• Requires monthly phone-extension summaries covering call length, live-representative time, automated routing, disconnections, transfers, hold time, and service satisfaction.
• Requires individualized website and mobile access to return and refund status, suspension reasons, requested information, and submission deadlines.
• States that IRS should provide callbacks by calendar year 2028 for calls not answered within five minutes.
• Requires expanded online accounts for taxpayers and authorized representatives to view IRS documents and upload responses.
• Requires multi-taxpayer access features for authorized representatives, return preparers, and qualified reporting agents.