Service to taxpayers

This section of the Data Book provides information on the scope and composition of the ways the IRS provides assistance, not only to taxpayers but also to tax-exempt organizations and government entities. The IRS assists taxpayers in meeting their federal tax return filing and pay­ment obligations through its telephone helplines, via the internet, at IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers, and through volunteer-provided income tax assistance.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent orga­nization within the IRS that helps taxpayers resolve problems with the IRS, protects taxpayers’ rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and recommends changes that will prevent the problems. Taxpayers may request TAS’s assistance.

In addition to helping taxpayers meet their tax responsibili­ties, the IRS devotes significant resources to meeting the special needs of tax-exempt organizations, employee retire­ment plans, and government entities in complying with tax laws. While these entities are not subject to federal income tax, they nonetheless represent a significant aspect of tax administration.

View chart details XLSX.  For additional graphs from this section, download the PDF of this year’s Data Book PDF.

Highlights of the data

• In Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, the IRS assisted 50.4 million taxpayers through correspondence, its enterprise-wide telephone helplines, or at Taxpayer Assistance Centers (Table 2-1 XLSX ).
• The IRS provided return preparation assistance through its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs, preparing almost 2.9 million returns with the aid of 76,314 volunteers in FY 2025 (Table 2-1 XLSX ).
• In FY 2025, Tax Advocate Service received 229,760new requests for assistance and closed 241,546 cases, including those received in prior fiscal years (Table 2-3 XLSX ).
• The IRS closed 145,202applications for tax-exempt status in FY 2025. The IRS approved tax-exempt status for 88.6% of these applications (Table 2-4 XLSX ). 

Index of Data Book tables

Taxpayer assistance: Tables 2-1 – 2-8

Table 2-1: Selected taxpayer assistance and education programs, by type of assistance or program, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-2: Selected online taxpayer assistance, by type of assistance, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-3: Taxpayer advocate service: Post-filing taxpayer assistance program, by type of primary issue and relief, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-4: Closures of applications for tax-exempt status, by organization type and Internal Revenue Code section, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-5: Receipts of forms 8976, notices of intent to operate under Section 501(c)(4), fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-6: Tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and nonexempt split-interest trusts, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-7: Determination letters issued on employee retirement plans, by type and disposition of plan, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 
Table 2-8: Technical activities and voluntary compliance closures, fiscal year 2025 XLSX 

Data for all years

• Table 2-1
• Table 2-2
• Table 2-3
• Table 2-4
• Table 2-5
• Table 2-6
• Table 2-7
• Table 2-8

Other Data Book sections:

• Returns filed, taxes collected and refunds issued
• Service to taxpayers
• Compliance presence
• Collections, activities, penalties and appeals
• Chief Counsel
• IRS budget & workforce