The Internal Revenue Service, for this tax season, is looking to answer only 71% of the total calls that are made to its toll-free help line, and even those who are fortunate enough to actually get someone to pick up their call, will have to face an average hold time of 12 minutes.

All details have been confirmed by a report released by the IRS ombudsman on Wednesday.

While stressing that with every passing year, the agency is facing more and more callers, IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said that the IRS "is committed to providing the best possible service to every taxpayer. The bottom line is we have answered millions more phone calls in the last two years than ever before".

Not everyone is happy with the decision though. "This level of service is unacceptable", said National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, while calling the development the "number one most serious problem for taxpayers".

Over the past 2 years, all because if the various taxes breaks that were introduced by the Government during the financial crisis, the IRS says that it has been inundated with taxpayer calls. "Resources available to deliver telephone services are finite and staffing allocations must be made in light of competing demands necessary to meet other customer needs and preferences", the agency said.