The IRS’s in-house watchdog is recommending that the next head of the agency emphasize improving the agency’s customer service.

In her mid-year report to Congress, released Wednesday, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said that she “will encourage the next commissioner make customer service improvements a top priority.”

Olson’s report, mandated by statute, was released one day before the Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on Trump’s nominee to be IRS commissioner, Beverly Hills tax lawyer Chuck Rettig.

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Olson said in her report that data from indexes that measure customer service rank the IRS worse than other federal agencies, and noted that these rankings “stand in stark contrast with the IRS’s own performance measures.”

The report notes that while the IRS reported a level of service of 80 percent on its phone lines, IRS representatives actually only answered 29 percent of calls to the agency. A number of calls are routed to automation or involve taxpayers hanging up.

The IRS also reports a customer satisfaction level on its phone lines of 90 percent, but the agency only surveys taxpayers whose calls were answered by representatives, Olson wrote.

Olson praised a bill the House passed in April that would require the IRS to develop a comprehensive customer service strategy.

“That is an important step in the right direction,” she wrote.

Olson’s report also makes several recommendations about improving IRS customer service, including that the agency use of more accurate performance measures and accelerate the creation of an integrated case-management system.

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The report also addressed implementation of the new tax law that Trump signed in December. Olson expressed confidence that the IRS would be able to implement the measure, which involves updating systems, creating and updating forms and issuing guidance.

“I have no doubt the IRS will deliver what it has been asked to do,” she wrote.

Still, Olson expressed concerns that the IRS’s budgetary issues and decline in its workforce will pose challenges for the agency. She said that the IRS has seen its budget decrease since 2018 by 20 percent since fiscal 2010 after adjusting for inflation.