Lifehacker – “Not all questions can be answered by a computer, especially when it comes to your taxes. But when you call the IRS, it can seem impossible to get an actual human to take your call. That’s been made worse in 2021, as the pandemic has further depleted the notoriously understaffed agency, which is also dealing with a glut of inquiries at the end of an unusually complicated tax year. Even so, sometimes you just need to talk to a person. Here’s how you can reach someone quickly. Expect to wait The IRS received more than 100 million calls last year, but only 1 in 4 callers ultimately got through to an IRS employee, according to a recent National Taxpayer Advocate report. Most callers either get frustrated with the long waits or fed up with the complicated phone tree that only leads from one automated message to another, so they simply hang up. If you do stick it out, the IRS says that you can expect an average wait of 27 minutes when calling calling between May and December, with the longest waits typically on Mondays and Tuesdays. However, many on social media are claiming calls are still taking up to 2-3 hours, if not longer. In 2017, a large enQ, Inc. study found that the best times of day to call were before 9 a.m. on the East Coast and after 5 p.m. on the West Coast…The IRS telephone number is 1-800-829-1040, and they are available from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. local time, Monday thru Friday. Accountant Amy Northard offers this cheat-sheet for navigating the IRS phone menu on her blog…”