Millennials who find themselves in debt to the agency have more constructive options than neglecting debt letters and less expensive ones than hiring a CPA. Tax tutorials are available online, and the Society of Grownups, a Brookline, Massachusetts, financial literacy group, offers two classes, “Quarterly Schmarterly” and “Get Off Your Tax.” Each costs $30. In one class, a third of those in attendance owed money to the IRS, said Jena Palisoul, director of financial planning.
"Some people get so frightened, they take no action whatsoever," she said, "and that’s the worst thing to do.”
Smith of the IRS acknowledged "it can be a while" on the phone but said "it's better than it was last year, as Congress provided us with some increase in funding for the phone operations. We really encourage people to [seek help] online first."
"I think they are trying to speak to everyone in a more technology-friendly way," said Weston. "They're tweeting, they're trying to get representatives out there ... but with all this identity theft they are being very cautious about communicating with taxpayers digitally."
Even so, "it was all very poorly communicated to us by the IRS,” Duemig said.
He added: "Tax law, it almost feels, like, intentionally complicated. It just tires you out so you just pay more than you need to.”