Have a 1099 question for the IRS? Good luck with that. You have only a one in four chance of the IRS even answering that call, and if they do wait times average over a half hour. From there, the odds of getting an experienced tax attorney or CPA online handling your specific fact and circumstances are near non-existent. Furthermore, if you are calling at any time of the year other than from January to March you can even forget that (as the IRS has repeatedly stated it does not provide tax support outside of filing season).

If that weren't bad enough an auto-dialing operation that has recently started up is making it worse (according to a recent investigative report published by the L.A. Times on September 28, 2021). Apparently, a company (EnQ) is offering those willing to pay up to $3,600 per year the chance to cut to the head of the line. A line growing longer because the L.A. Times reports that this company is flooding the IRS switchboard with its own calls, mucking things up even more, and making it less likely the IRS will ever fix this issue.

According to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig on March 15, 2021 alone, he said, 8.6 million calls — about 1,500 per second — were made to the IRS. This is compared with normal filing-season volume of up to 3 million calls a day. After reading the L.A. Times investigation we wonder why...This means that if the sausage making legislative process in Congress results in the IRS being able to allocate more money to address the problem that, according to the L.A. Times investigation it won't matter anyway.

What's more, you will pay to cut ahead for what? All so your AP team can get anything but the answers you need (after additional wait times as there is no promise that you will immediately speak with someone at the IRS). Please don't fall for what seems to be a blatant con that won't deliver the answer you need - even if you pay what journalist Cory Doctorow terms as a "ransomware" toll to cut to the head of the line. On top of that, even if you get an answer from the IRS it will be verbal. Remember, only written guidance is considered grounds for waiving a proposed penalty under IRS reasonable cause rules (see IRC Section 6724). 

You have a problem: you have 1099 questions but you can't get an answer.

Our tax attorneys can help.

How?

We not only answer all of our subscribers 1099 questions in two business days or less (providing written answers from actual tax attorneys that you can also use to help show reasonable cause), but we do something as well. We educate our subscribers. We do this via providing access to thousands of questions previously answered, hundreds of articles and tax tips, as well as attendance for all of our subscribers at educational webinars like this November's upcoming Form 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC Box-By-Box Webinar (where you can also earn 2.0 CPE credits from our NASBA certified CPE providers). And we do it all for as low as $49 per month.

The best thing we do is help you get smarter. Not only will you be able to handle more issues as you learn, but you can rely on us to assist you not only when you just want an answer but also in solving the really tough curve balls ever-changing IRS 1099 due diligence and filing regulations throw at you. That empowerment and freedom is something you can't get waiting in line for verbal advice from someone at the IRS who, considering the massive turnover in recent years, likely won't be able to give you the answer you need. If you want to pay to get to the head of what the L.A. Times reporting shows is an EnQ exacerbated line, then by all means - knock yourself out. Just make sure to also reserve time for the inevitable proposed penalty that will come your way.