Mind numbing call with an IRS agent today. I want the IRS to get funding. I know their jobs are difficult. I support the IRS. That being said, something must change at the IRS. I called on an intent to levy notice where the IRS has ignored four packages we have sent them via certified mail. I called the number on the notice to have the account put on hold. After an hour and a half I could not get the account put on hold and I opened a case with the Taxpayer Advocate instead. That took another 30 minutes. Here is what happened when I called the IRS this morning: I just called the IRS to put the account on hold and wasted an hour and a half more. I called the number of the notice and the person I talked to had no idea what to do. I am serious she: Had a poor phone connection She did not know what an EIN number was and kept asking me for a Social Security number She kept putting me on hold to talk to her supervisor Note, I called the number listed on the notice I was supposed to call. Eventually, she told me she could not help me and that she would have to transfer me to another number. I asked why. She said this seems to be happening a lot and she often has to transfer people. She transferred me to collections (Which is the number I originally called). I waited on hold for 60 more minutes and then got disconnected. The agent I talked to was pleasant, she had to be very new and had to have been given very insufficient training which is not her fault. This is unacceptable. The IRS needs to focus on fixing their correspondence system. This is more important than auditing high income sophisticated taxpayers. When the IRS audits the rich they are going to lose if their agents cannot even handle basic correspondence. Again, I want the IRS to succeed. Daniel Werfel are you listening? #cpa #ea #aicpa #irs