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Internal Revenue Service

U.S. Department of the Treasury seal

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Mission

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processed more than 240.2 million Federal tax returns and supplemental documents in 2020, collecting close to $3.5 trillion in gross taxes and issuing almost 122 million refunds.

Designated Services

Filing an individual tax return

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The IRS facilitates the tax filing journey for millions of Americans each year. Taxpayers gather their tax information and choose from various filing methods, including using tax preparation software, IRS Free File, paid preparers, filling out forms, or visiting VITA/TCE sites. Taxpayers may seek answers to tax law questions or require tax account information during the pre and post-filing stages. IRS research indicates that most taxpayers prefer interacting through visiting IRS.gov or calling.

Managing an individual online account

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Online Account allows taxpayers to securely access their individual account information. Through their online account, taxpayers can view balance owed by tax year, make and view payments, view or create payment plans, manage communication preferences, access tax records and notices, view Tax Pro authorizations and more. The IRS will continue to add features to the Individual Online Account and launch a first-generation Business Online Account for sole proprietors to improve the taxpayer experience. In FY23 the IRS expanded functionality to include a virtual assistant and live chat for certain features, as well as the ability to validate bank account information.

Action Plans