IRS did better than expected in tax season after slashing staff, except on the phone, watchdog says

The IRS performed better than expected in processing tax refunds during the 2026 tax season despite significant staff reductions, but struggled with answering phone calls, particularly for identity theft victims. A watchdog report highlighted that 59% of major account calls were answered, while compliance and identity theft lines had 34% and 19% answer rates, respectively, with identity theft cases taking nearly two years to resolve.