National Taxpayer Advocate Calls the Tax Season a Measured Success

Published June 27, 2025

Each year, the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) reviews the tax filing season and publishes a report with findings and objectives for the next year. On June 25, 2025, the NTA released this year’s report for the filing season that ended April 15, 2025 and noted that this year’s tax season was a "measured success" for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The IRS collected approximately $5 trillion in revenue for fiscal year 2024. This involved processing 180 million tax returns and managing over five billion information forms. The $5 trillion was essential for funding government programs that include national defense, Social Security and Medicare.

The IRS has made major steps forward to improve the filing process since the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the third generally successful filing season. Most taxpayers filed their returns on time and received prompt refunds.

Over 95% of taxpayers filed electronically. In addition approximately 60% of taxpayers received refunds. Many of the refunds were for returns that claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

The IRS processed 140,633,000 individual tax returns and issued 86,021,000 refunds. The average refund amount was $2,942. Over 81 million of the 86 million refunds were delivered through direct deposit to the bank account of the taxpayer.

The IRS reports that it suspended approximately 13 million returns. Over 2 million returns were flagged because they were caught by IRS identity theft filters. For these returns, the IRS sent a letter to affected taxpayers, explaining that they needed to authenticate their identities prior to the IRS issuing a refund.

The IRS operates a massive mail system. Many taxpayers receive notices from the IRS and call to speak with IRS representatives. As a result, the IRS receives tens of millions of phone calls about filings, correspondence and tax-related issues.

The IRS set a major goal this past year to improve telephone service and met its Level of Service (LOS) goal of 85%. While it has steadily expanded the digital tools on the IRS.gov website, it recognizes that many taxpayers need to speak directly to an IRS representative. The agency considers reliable phone service an essential part of taxpayer support.

During the past year, the IRS received over 38 million calls and more than 12 million calls were answered by an IRS employee. The claimed level of service was 70% and the average time on hold was 8 minutes.

If the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is passed, there will be significant changes that affect the filing system next year. The IRS may have more taxpayers calling to inquire about major changes in the law that affect their tax return.

Another concern is delays in responding to victims of identity theft. The IRS considers identity theft cases in two categories. The first is a potentially fraudulent return. In those cases, the IRS requires the taxpayers to authenticate their identity. The second type of identity theft involves a stolen Social Security number. The fraudster claims to be a legitimate taxpayer, files a return and seeks to receive a large refund.

The IRS has 387,000 pending cases involving suspected identity theft, a fraudulent return and improper refund claims. The cases took approximately 20 months to resolve. The NTA explained that this is a huge problem. These delays "disproportionately affect vulnerable populations dependent upon their refunds to meet basic living expenses." Therefore, NTA is urging the IRS to improve the taxpayer experience, especially those who are waiting for the IRS to resolve a potential identity theft situation.

A major issue for the IRS in the next year is its outdated information technology (IT) structure. The IRS has been attempting for many years to improve its technology. It is now working with the Treasury Department to assess its technology priorities.

The IRS needs to move from paper to electronic returns and information returns. In prior reports the NTA stated, "Paper is the IRS’s is kryptonite, and the IRS is buried in it." The IRS is attempting to allow submission and upload of electronic documents and eventually eliminate paper documents and returns.