IRS Rolls Out New Chatbot Feature for Certain CP Notices
A new chatbot feature is now available to help answer basic taxpayer questions about three notices in the CP series, the IRS said on Tuesday.
“Through our transformation efforts, we are working to expand technologies to help taxpayers and tax professionals interact with us in the ways they prefer, including expanded digital, phone and in-person assistance options,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a press release. “We understand receiving a notice from the IRS can be concerning, and people frequently have questions. The use of chatbots in call centers has emerged as an effective practice in both the private and public sectors, making it easier for people to quickly get basic information to resolve their issues and avoid wait times on the phone. Deploying chatbots at the IRS call center helps taxpayers get their issues resolved quicker, and it helps free up valuable phone resources for other taxpayers with questions on more complex issues.”
Chatbots will be used to provide information to taxpayers on the following tax notices: CP2000, CP2501, and CP3219A. These notices inform taxpayers if the tax information the IRS received from third parties, such as employers or financial institutions, does not match the information they provided to the IRS themselves. This discrepancy could cause an increase or a decrease in the amount of taxes a person owes.
The chatbot simulates human interaction with taxpayers through a web or mobile app on a computer or mobile screen by responding to questions or requests in a chat feature, the IRS said. At the end of the interaction, taxpayers can press the “representative” button to speak to a person.
The new IRS chatbot can provide taxpayers with information such as:
What to do if they received a notice.
What to do if they need more time to respond to a notice.
How to find out if the IRS received their response.
“Rollout of this chatbot builds on prior IRS successes using the technology to help improve taxpayer service,” the agency said. “Since January 2022, IRS voice and chatbots, both in English and Spanish, helped more than 13 million taxpayers avoid wait times by resolving their tax issues, including setting up roughly $151 million in payment agreements.”
The IRS said it plans to use additional bot technology in the future to assist taxpayers with more complex issues.