5 Tips when calling the IRS

I have had to call the IRS. The tips I have for when your speaking to the IRS is by no means a scientific study. It just comes from my experiences when speaking to them.

1) Give yourself plenty of time when calling. It may take an hour for you to speak to a representative. So what I do is call them and I leave the speaker on and work away on something else. Today I called for a client at 6:00 pm I waited for about 10 minutes to speak to the clerk that dispatches the call to different topic sections, and after I was transferred a recorded message told me that we're sorry and because of the heavy volume they could not take my phone call and then said for me to call the next business day or check out their website.
2) When calling them even though you might be aggravated and ready to chew out somebody, anybody, take a deep breath and calm yourself down. They have the upper hand and if your going to wait for an hour to get to talk to someone it is best that your calm. This will help you to have the IRS rep assist you in your case and maybe if your lucky enough, they may have suggestions to help you get what your looking to accomplish.
3) When the conversation is completed get the name and ID number of the IRS rep. This maybe needed in the future because if they ask you to do something or they are advising you to do something it is best you have the date and time of the call, along with the IRS rep's name and ID number in case things go wrong. Basically your representing yourself, almost acting as your own lawyer.
4) If you get a IRS rep that your not able to communicate with effectively, you can always excuse yourself and call the IRS again. I do this quite often because not every IRS rep is the same. Like with anything you have your good, not so good, and not good at all. So instead of getting angry and making things worse just "spin the wheel" again and see what lady luck does for you.
5) Best times to call the IRS. Mondays are the worst day to call. Today being Monday I chose to call at the end of the day. However they were so busy that this strategy did not work. Best day to call is Friday. The best time to call is usually towards the end of the day. But not too late because I have been on hold for an hour and when the time hits 7:00 pm, they cut off the phone lines and even though your on hold they will not pick up. Which kind of aggravated me because I thought that if I'm on hold that they would have to take my call. Yeah right. So I finally hung up around 7:15 pm. Then I called back real quick and sure even though they had closed. During tax season they usually extend their phone hours. That is why I was not sure what time they shut off their phone system. But when I called back at 7:15 pm I gathered that you can be on hold and they do not have to answer your call.