IRS COLLECTION BOTS HAVE AMAZING FIRST YEAR:

IRS COLLECTION BOTS HAVE AMAZING FIRST YEAR

Not too long ago, I tasked a dynamic team in SBSE with addressing ACS telephone levels of service, by creating a proof of concept and requirements for unauthenticated and authenticated voice bots, along with chat bots. Calling the team "dynamic" fits them, but I'd add to that they are now known as incredibly "successful". Who is the team? SBSE Technology Solutions, Collection Customer Experience Office, and a lot of the impeccable expertise and can-do ferocity of the IRS Information Technology Division and our On-Line Services Office. As importantly, none of this would have been possible without the fervent support of our former Commissioner, Charles Rettig. Our chat bots went live just a week before January 2022 and unauthenticated (no access to private taxpayer data) voice bots went live the first week of January - able to answer basic questions and how to make a one-time payment. On June 14, 2022 (just 6 months ago), our authenticated voice bots went live - and these bots "can" access private taxpayer data. They can establish or modify payment plans, and [a short time later] were able to provide transcripts and allow taxpayers to monitor payments received by IRS. The containment rates of our bots are very favorable and comparable to private industry. As we say goodbye to 2022, I wanted to applaud our incredible team and share with all of you what a difference their work made. In 2022 (through December 17th) our combined [authenticated and unauthenticated] voice bots answered nearly "8 million" phone calls and established/modified over 11,000 payment agreements worth over $70 million. Our "chat" bots handled inbound inquiries so well they reduced the volume of online chats to our ACS live chat assistors by 70%. Because of this IRS team's smart and dedicated work, millions more Americans had their calls answered and tax issues resolved - by robots!