I’ve called the IRS recently due to them losing my filings, hard to get a person on the phone, even their advocates told me everyone struggles with it, the robot hangs up on you, when you do get someone they have no idea what to do an transfer you around, some agents just make things up, contradict policies they just told you. I ended up physically going to their office to drop off the paper work to get an official receipt they received my filing for when they lose it again. Next step is contacting my local congresswomen’s office for help. My experience at least with something very simple.
What's worse about the IRS than most is any instructions given to you by them are not part of tax-law, so you can't rely on them.
I had firsthand experience of this when I called to try to resolve some issues from a prior year. I talked to the agent and then acted on their advice. I later received a letter in the mail stating that the advice that was given was possibly not legal and that I would be on the hook for any fees and penalties if I followed it.
Luckily for me there was no consequences, but it made the whole process extra stressful.
