Internal Revenue Service National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said Friday that the error rate for earned income tax credit (EITC) claims is higher on returns prepared by unregulated, unaffiliated tax return preparers than on returns prepared by other preparer types.

Olson’s office acts as an independent taxpayer ombudsman within the IRS.

“There have to be minimum standards for preparers,” Olson told the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the agency.

At the same time, she charged the IRS is not meeting minimum standards for dealing with the public.

“IRS service to taxpayers is unacceptable,” Olson charged.

She said the IRS should emphasize “Service First,” but the IRS often appears to be focusing on “Enforcement First.”

The reality that online tools are no replacement for taxpayers talking directing to staffers runs counter to the IRS’s push to automate more and make personal interactions less, Olson said.

The IRS Taxpayer Advocate said a big reason for service shrinkage is funding is down 20 percent since 2010, but there are many other reasons that proper attention to individual taxpayers has been declining.

As an example of poor service that isn’t caused by funding shortfalls, Olson noted IRS workers often don’t include their name and phone number when they are in contact with taxpayers when they are legally required to.

And when a worker does, she said, the phone number is often the IRS’s main toll-free number rather than the employee’s direct line.

The IRS is making good strides at trying to reduce theft of tax refunds by requiring employers to give the agency more personal information for their workers that crooks are unlikely to have, Olson said,

On another issue, she said her office has a lot of concerns about IRS using private tax collectors.

She has noted two previous efforts by the IRS to use private debt collectors in the last 20 years have ended in failure.

“They have no incentive to think about voluntary compliance going forward,” she said.

In the past, Olson has noted the notoriously aggressive nature of private debt collectors trying to boost their profits could lead to financial hardship for people behind in their taxes, forcing them into government assistance programs.

The official said the elderly are especially vulnerable.

Olson revealed her office is developing a web page to help Uber drivers and other gig economy workers with tax rules.