HOUSTON — Houston taxpayers looking to take advantage of free IRS help were turned away from a southwest Houston office Saturday.
The sudden closure of the IRS office on South Gessner Drive near the Southwest Freeway left many residents frustrated.
This office, along with 70 taxpayer assistance centers across the US, were offering special Saturday hours to help last-minute filers.
Although the office was supposed to close at 4 p.m., people waiting for assistance were told just before 11 a.m. the office would be closed.
"The doors were supposed to open at nine and they came out and they said we're not serving nobody today. I been out here with my elderly mom since 6:30 this morning, people literally were here at 12 o'clock last night," said resident Calvetta Brandyberg.
When KHOU 11 News reached out to the IRS, they sent a statement acknowledging the delays and said in part they occurred "due to overwhelming taxpayer demand for assistance."
Because of this, the agency will take "special steps" next week to further assist taxpayers in the Houston area, including adding more staff to offices and more people to help on their phone lines.
The deadline to file taxes, or file for an extension, is Monday, April 15.
Full statement:
The IRS has surged resources to expand in-person service, opening or reopening more than 50 new walk-in centers over the past two years and ensuring they are fulling staffed. The IRS has added more than 11,000 additional hours of availability this Filing Season, making this the most hours of in-person service the agency has provided in our history.
Delays on Saturday occurred due to overwhelming taxpayer demand for assistance, and the IRS is committed to serving those who weren’t able to receive in person help. For people we couldn’t serve in person, we are collecting names and numbers when possible so an IRS representative can call them back. To further assist taxpayers in the Houston area, we will be taking special steps to help on Monday and throughout the week. We will be working to fully staff our offices next week and adding more people to help on our phone lines.
We also remind taxpayers there are many ways to get help from the IRS. We encourage taxpayers needing assistance to schedule an appointment by calling (844) 545-5640. Many issues can be resolved over the phone to help people avoid a trip to an IRS office. Taxpayers can also get an automatic extension to file until Oct. 15 by visiting IRS.gov.