The Internal Revenue Service announced that it is bringing on an additional 4,000 customer service employees for the upcoming 2023 tax filing season.
The hiring influx is made possible by the $80 billion in funding the IRS received from congressional Democrats. The funding isn't coming all at once, but thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency will receive it over the next decade.
The funding was granted in order to help build up the agency, which hasn't received additional funding in decades. While the IRS is still deciding where to use the funds, the new employees it is bringing on will be trained to help answer taxpayer questions.
The announcement of the additional workers adds to the agency's previous goal to bring on 1,000 by the end of the year, moving the total to 5,000 new positions.
Other plans it has for the funding include an emphasis on improving customer service and scrutiny of high-income earners.
Training for the customer service representatives will include knowledge of taxpayer rights and technical account management issues.
Part of the reason for the hiring spree includes a high number of complaints about the agency having poor customer service.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers wrote the IRS last tax season after reports found the agency was only answering taxpayer phone calls 9% of the time, CBS News reported.
The IRS hasn't denied they've had poor customer service either, as the agency's previous commissioner Chuck Rettig shared a statement on Thursday saying that "help is on the way for taxpayers."
"We have been unable to provide the help that IRS employees want to give and that the nation's taxpayers deserve," Rettig said.
The new hires should be trained and ready to work in 2023. On Thursday, Rettig said that they "will have more assistors on the phone than any time in recent history."
A day after the announcement, the Treasury Department announced some major changes in the agency. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shared that IRS Commissioner Rettig would be stepping down from his position, Politico reported.
"I want to thank Commissioner Rettig for his tireless service to the American people across two administrations, and his leadership of the IRS during the difficult and unique challenges posed by COVID-19. I am grateful to him for his partnership and efforts to ensure taxpayers had the resources they needed to make it through the pandemic," Yellen said in a statement.
Yellen has named Douglas O'Donnell the interim commissioner.
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