Yes, it's that time of year again and if you think things are expected to go smoothly for taxpayers, you could be in for a rude awakening.

                Taxpayers have questions and many need help.  According to a recent report to Congress by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, there has been a devastating erosion of taxpayer service over the past 10 years.

                In 2004 the Internal Revenue Service answered 87 percent of calls and taxpayers had to wait on hold only about 2.5 minutes.  When our financial crisis was at its worst in 2009, the IRS was answering 70 percent of its calls and taxpayer wait time averages were about nine minutes.

                But with sharp budget cuts over the last few years, taxpayer service began to slide.  In 2013 the number of calls answered by the IRS dropped to 61 percent.  In 2014, the number of calls answered rose slightly to 64 percent but taxpayers "on-hold" time rose to nearly 20 minutes.

                An article posted on Forbes magazine's website reports that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, in an email to employees, advised that "realistically we have no choice but to do less with less."

                According to the article, tax filers could be met with an increase in identity theft, refund delays, lags in correspondence, fewer resolutions, unanswered calls for help, shutdowns (employee furloughs) and fewer audit closures. 

                In his email, Koskinen warned that budget cuts could delay refunds for paper filers by more than a week this filing season and force a total agency shutdown later this year, resulting in a two-day furlough for its roughly 80,000 workers (though he promised that furloughs wouldn't occur during tax season).

                Olson's report cited the tax agency's diminishing ability to respond to taxpayers' needs as political battles over the national debt have led to ever-deeper cuts in agency funding.  For this year, she ranks taxpayer service first on her "most serious problems" list, under the heading: "Taxpayer Service Has Reached Unacceptably Low Levels and Is Getting Worse."

                Most frightening to many online filers is that implementation of additional security measures have been delayed.  Last year, more than $5 million was stolen by scammers posing as IRS representatives.

                In addition, there are some new reporting requirements surrounding the Affordable Health Care Act regarding individual shared responsibility provisions and premium tax credits.  There's bound to be questions about that.

                So, be forewarned that you could experience problems when filing your tax forms this year and that help from the IRS may not be forthcoming – at least at the other end of the telephone.

                For the self-filers, it might not be a bad time to consider professional help from the numerous tax professionals available in the community.  It might cost you, but in the long run, it could save you a lot of aggravation and money.

                Make a mistake and you'll pay the tax owed, penalty and interest.

                After all, it's tax filing time.