The IRS Phone Number

Call The IRS customer service faster with GetHuman

  • Calls The IRS's Customer Service department
  • The average hold time is 29m
  • Hours are Mon-Fri 7am-7pm EST
  • The best time to call is 8:00am
  • Popular issues for this call center: Track My Refund, Setup Payment Arrangement, Ask For Tax Help, Order a Transcript, and Missing Refund.
  • Reach a live The IRS agent: Press 1 for English, then press 2 for Personal Income Taxes, and then push 1, then 3, then 2, then 0# when it asks for your social security number, then 2
  • What you hear when you call: Refund, or check status of tax return, press 1. Eligibility, clean vehicle credit, tax transcripts, tax reform law, press 2. Answers about your business taxes, press 3. Healthcare law, press 4. Personal or business taxes as they relate to healthcare, press 5. FAQ or to make a one-time payment, press 6. Questions about stimulus payment, press 7. Advance child action payment, press 8.

Calling The IRS Customer Care at 800-829-1040

Nov 20, 2023

Most taxpayers call the IRS to receive assistance with filing their taxes, ask questions about specific tax forms, follow up on an audit or make payments toward their recent or past-due filings. Upon calling, customers are greeted with an automated message directing them to the IRS website if they're seeking information about form 1099-K designed for those receiving payments from online marketplaces.

After this recording, an automated system asks callers to press 1 for help with their 1040, or to remain on the line for a menu of options. Callers can choose to receive help with clean vehicle credits, a tax reform law, personal taxes, frequently asked questions or the child tax credit. You can also press 9 to repeat the list of options, which I found to be decently comprehensive. 

Wanting to know more about the tax reform law and whether it would affect my filing, I opted for pressing 2 was directed to a customer service rep after a brief hold. She asked for what I needed help with and I responded with wanting to better understand the tax reform law. After a silent pause, she asked me to repeat my question since she didn't understand my request. Once I did, the rep admitted she wasn't the right person to speak with, even though I chose the option associated with tax reform questions.

Instead, she transferred me to another department and I was placed on another brief hold. A second rep came on the line and began with a scripted message informing me to not share any personal information with her and that she was unable to answer specific questions related to individual filings. Once again, I repeated my request to speak with someone about the tax reform law and how it could affect my personal taxes. Unfortunately, she was unfamiliar with anything related to tax reform and said she would put me on hold to find out who could help. 

While waiting, however, the call was connected to an automated message directing me to the IRS website to access forms and documents related to my tax needs. There was no other option to speak with another rep nor were there menu choices to be directed elsewhere. I found the call to be quite unsuccessful based on the reps' lack of knowledge related to a topic that is clearly listed in their menu of options. Rather than attempt another call, I visited the IRS' website and did a search for 'tax reform law' to learn more.

Even though there are a variety of IRS departments designated to handle individual tax questions, it seems more effective and efficient to access resources online rather than call customer service, unless your concern can be clearly addressed. It can be daunting to wade through the numerous forms online yet the IRS can also direct you to local entities and services that may be able to offer faster assistance. 

Adam has been tirelessly trying to help customers find the best tips and tricks to get through phone trees and writing many guides for prickly customer service problems. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and Bloomberg.

Reasons customers like you called recently

Correcting a tax determination I filed the letters and I wanna make sure that the files...
There’s Miss determination I have submitted the evidence for a tax filing of **** and i...
See GetHuman issue ********. All details of incidents apply with additional development...

The IRS Customer Phone Number 800-829-1040 - Stats

Phone number to dial800-829-1040
Call-back availableYES
Call picked up by a real personYES
Department you're callingCustomer Service
Call center hoursMon-Fri 7am-7pm EST
Best time to dial8:00am
Average wait29 minutes
Current wait37 minutes
Rank (among phone numbers)1
Rank (overall)1
Communication channelsphone, web
Quality of communication81%
Quality of help72%
Customer votes67,498
Information last updatedFri Mar 15 2024 09:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The IRS's Best Toll-Free/800 Customer Phone Number

This is The IRS's best phone number, the real-time current wait on hold and tools for skipping right through those phone lines to get right to a The IRS agent. This phone number is The IRS's Best Phone Number because 2,306,316 customers like you used this contact information over the last 18 months and gave us feedback. Common problems addressed by the customer care unit that answers calls to 800-829-1040 include Track My Refund, Setup Payment Arrangement, Ask For Tax Help, Order a Transcript, Missing Refund and other customer service issues. The The IRS call center that you call into has employees from Utah, New York, Tennessee and is open Mon-Fri 7am-7pm EST according to customers. In total, The IRS has 10 phone numbers. It's not always clear what is the best way to talk to The IRS representatives, so we started compiling this information built from suggestions from the customer community. Please keep sharing your experiences so we can continue to improve this free resource.

What is GetHuman's Relationship to The IRS?

In short, the two companies are not related. GetHuman builds free tools and shares information amongst customers of companies like The IRS. For large companies that includes tools such as our GetHuman Phone, which allows you to call a company but skip the part where you wait on the line listening to their call technology music. We've created these shortcuts and apps to try to help customers like you (and ourselves!) navigate the messy phone menus, hold times, and confusion with customer service, especially with larger companies. And as long as you keep sharing it with your friends and loved ones, we'll keep doing it.

Call with our super-powered phone

  • Click to call- even from your desktop
  • We dial and get a human for you
  • AI-powered suggestions of what to say
  • Keep a transcript and other stats
  • Free, unintrusive: no account needed

Beyond the Phone Number

There are other ways to get in touch with The IRS, including their website / help desk. Visit our The IRS Customer Service page for more information.
The IRS Customer Service

More Company Phone Numbers

Was this page helpful?
Thank you and please share!
Thank you and please share!
Needs work
Sharing is what powers GetHuman's free customer service contact information and tools. You can help!