Call or write, it's almost impossible to get through to the IRS
CBSN
With taxpayers starting to send in their 2021 returns to the IRS, many are hoping for a quick turnaround on their refunds. But people with a question or processing delay this season may find it difficult to get an answer from the IRS, either by phone or mail.
The tax agency itself is warning taxpayers that they're unlikely to get through to an IRS employee via its phone lines this tax season: "We expect our phone lines to be jammed up for the foreseeable future," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig on a January conference call with reporters. "Demand is significantly up."
Call demand reached a record during the prior tax year, with Americans placing 282 million telephone calls to the agency, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent division of the IRS that's dedicated to helping taxpayers. Of those calls, only about 11% were answered.
When Kevin Ketels bought an electric 2026 Chevrolet Blazer last year, he wasn't thinking about the cost of gas. He just thought EVs were better and "wanted to be part of the future." Now that the Iran war is spiking prices at the pump, the Detroit man is happy he's no longer filling up his 11-year-old gas-powered SUV. In:
President Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Wednesday, after oil prices rocketed to their highest levels in years amid the U.S.'s war with Iran.
U.S. motorists are likely to face higher gas prices for several weeks even if crude oil remains stable, according to GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. Edited by Aimee Picchi In:
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all JetBlue flights due to a request from the airline, the agency said in a notice on Tuesday. In:
"It's been a long time since we've had a bad event," said Lloyd Blankfein. "It's been 17 years since the financial crisis." The former CEO of Goldman Sachs, who led the bank through that historic crisis, says it happened before, so it'll happen again. In:
On the day that marks 13 years since the death of Venezuelan socialist strongman Hugo Chávez and two months after the Jan. 3 U.S. operation that captured Nicolás Maduro, the scene in Caracas looks strikingly different from the anti-U.S.-imperialism rhetoric that founded Chavismo and was echoed by his successor. In:
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In:
Companies in the U.S. that paid tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court in February are legally entitled to refunds, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. In:
Target will invest another $2 billion in its business this year to spruce up stores, remodel locations and invest in workers, the retailer said Tuesday as it outlined plans to try to reverse a persistent sales malaise and reclaim its footing in fashion and home categories. In:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deemed artificial intelligence firm Anthropic a "supply chain risk to national security" on Friday, following days of increasingly heated public conflict over the company's effort to place guardrails on the Pentagon's use of its technology. Jo Ling Kent contributed to this report. In: