IRS

Was directed to this IRS walk-​in center by a CPA for a tax question that needed IRS input. Phoned the center in advance, but no human answered, so drove there at 2pm on a Monday. Waited 20 minutes in 2 long lines outside the office. Then a worker came out and said there was only 1 person working there, due to lack of budget (what?!! neither I nor my CPA had heard of this). Furthermore the worker added that the one (1) advisor working there was not trained to answer my tax question. He also told a number of people who he thought could be helped to come back early the next morning to have a better chance of getting in before closing time. He then directed me to a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) location for my tax question, which was another 30 minutes drive away. Arriving there, I was told a prior appointment was necessary, but they were fully booked for 5 – 6 weeks out. All this for a standard IRS tax question, and still NO answer. The IRS phone lines don’t appear to let you speak to a human, just frustrating voice robots. Flabbergasted to have to waste nearly a full day like this, and that this took place at the the US Government’s official IRS office. Are we back in the dark ages?

Good to have another office in North County. Only one person working, so there is a wait. You have to time it right and we arrived when there were only 2 people ahead of us!

My time here was extremely easy. I came in for a tax transcript that I was not able to get by mail or online. There were 2 people in front on me in line at 1030am on a Wednesday. I was out by 1053.

Nice customer service, but painfully slow. After explaining that because of budget cuts there is only one person instead of three behind the desk, I proceeded to wait 3 hours to be seen. There are very few people in line total, but 1 person at a time taking twenty minutes per customer makes for another exciting time in a government office. +1 star for being better than the Dmv!

I was in and out in 10 minutes for my transcripts. The guy at front desk was polite and helpful. After reading the reviews I was wary about going in, but my experience was perfect.

I used to think that the service and efficiency, as well as the extraordinarily long wait times at the DMV, the Social Security and even the ISCIS (INS) offices were something to dread and/​or to avoid at all costs, but actually all of these services have improved over the years. There are various people willing and able to assist you despite the large numbers of applicants.
However, my experience at the San Marcos IRS office proved to be the absolutely worst and most dismal governmental experience of my life! Not only do they only accept walk-​ins (no reservations), but also there is no system in place that provides you with any idea as to when, or if, you will be called that day. And although you are given a number, it means nothing since there is neither rhyme nor reason as to why a numeric ticket was given in the first place. There is no working counter on the wall.
The office opens at 8:30 am although lines begin to form at 7:45 am. We arrived at 9:10 am, and were greeted nicely by the male receptionist who was rather pleasant, although after having spent 4 ½ hours waiting in a very small waiting room, I realized that he too was not much more helpful than the others.
Yes. Ours was a very simple issue, which will «supposedly» be resolved via our signatures on an IRS form that I was unable to locate on line. However, it took 4 hours just to talk to someone. It took 35 minutes for the elderly gentlemen at the counter to produce one form, which we signed! That person characterized the inefficiency and tortuously slow service that everyone in the waiting room was experiencing. There was only one other lady working at the counter who appeared to be a bit less inefficient. In fact, we saw several people leave after 3 — 4 hours. And those who arrived after 11:30 am were told that there was no guarantee that they would even be serviced that day.
We were told that there is a staff shortage. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the unprofessional, rude behavior of the sworn police officer who regularly scolded a lady with her young child for either blocking the hallway with her stroller or «feeding» her baby. There is a no eating policy. She wasn’t causing any problems for anyone there. That officer needs to be removed or re-​trained in how to deal with the public in a more respectful manner while still enforcing rules. He appeared quite bitter. I truly felt sorry for everyone there.
Yes. I did read the previous reviews and expected less than stellar service, but this was totally unacceptable. No one should be forced to wait for hours without knowing if or when they will be serviced.
And you might think that the San Marcos is crowded just like the DMV or the Social Security Office that you may visit. No. I estimate that no more than 15 people were able to speak to an IRS representative that day. And when I left before 2:00 pm, no more than 25 people had even showed up. I understand that the closest IRS office that takes reservations is Long Beach. That might be a better bet.
To reiterate: 1) Long, unknown wait times, 2) shortage of staff, 3) No organized system for servicing the public, and 4) unprofessional, rude behavior by the police officer.

Simply the worst… They are not well educated for filing a tax return for non-​residents and extremely unhelpful and extremely unkind. I had inform myself on everything through the IRS website. The staff should be immediately fired. I know more about US tax laws then them! What a shame. Please save yourself the trouble and go to another office.

This office is understaffed and the staff that is there doesn’t know what they are doing.
I went in for a simple accounting and was given a little strip of paper print out that turned on to be wrong. Of course the IRS phone system is still not functioning from last year. So, there is no other way to get information than to write.
Good luck with that.

Being an Asian Indian I am embarrassed by the security Guard at the front door. I am not sure what is his problem. From the beginning he dis respected my self and my wife and our two toddlers. Then he talked to us in a way as we felt intimated and showing this kind of behaviors only on us I also felt racial. Never going to this office tags in just because of this behavioral conduct. He also called us by snapping his finger like not an human being.

This IRS Office is Ok. It takes a long time get your stuff done, but it’s worth the time u spend on waiting. Thanks for the front desk guy, he is kool. I will go again to update or any other service.

This location is seriously understaffed. A line down the hall just to get in to the office. An IRS employee came out to get people organized, and was able to answer my question and get me on my way fairly quickly, and without needing to wait any longer. Other than the wait, the only unpleasant part was the security person /​Supreme Master of the Hallway, who seemed to be having a very bad day.

Trash. I went in with an open mind, knowing everyone already hates the IRS. They’ve got super nice digs on the 4^th floor. Gee, who pays that? Armed guard at the door. Well… OK. I go in to ask some specific questions about the Affordable Care Act, and some specific business questions. First he hands me a post it with an 800 number and says business questions are out of their scope. Damn, they’re the IRS. How to «regular» people figure this stuff out. So we move on to the personal stuff. He says most of the info is on the ACA website. Yep. Searched. So… he asks a woman who has been «trained» in the ACA. Nope. She refers me to a publication number. I look it up while I’m still in the building, and it’s just a .PDF with links to 6 government web pages. Great. Really helpful.
While I’m still in the office he says, you know it doesn’t affect your taxes till next year, right? I say, Yes, but the law goes into effect in a few weeks, and that affects my 2014 taxes, right? Yet no one can give a direct answer so I can make those choices. He just looks at me blankly. That’s like saying don’t worry about speeding, because if you get caught you won’t have to pay the fine for a couple months.
Like I said, I wanted to keep an open mind because it’s free walk-​in help. Turns out it wasn’t any help, just a big waste of resources. Since they only do personal, you’re better off with Google and the Turbo Tax website.

The people are rude and incompetent & their policies are asinine.

I’m writing this b/​c I think alot of people don’t know there’s an IRS government office here in San Marcos.
I had to make a tax payment and didn’t want to overnite a payment to them. So I went to their website to research what locations are available. They have 2 offices here in SD: one in downtown San Diego and one in San Marcos.
They are located on the FOURTH inside the City of San Marcos administration/​development building. There is plenty of parking in their parking structure as well as a handful of 30 min parking spaces. I believe they share the parking w/​the public library right there as well.
Take the elevator or stairs to the 4^th floor and you will see signs for the office. The lone, cold security guard there told me to come back at 2p b/​c everyone was out to lunch.
Well, jeez — they didn’t mention THAT on their website. And don’t try calling their phone # — no one picks up.
By the time I came back at 2p, there was a line into the office. And there were about 7 ppl waiting inside the office.
A gentleman with a clipboard was taking down info. He asked what I wanted and I told him I JUST had to make a payment. He said ‘follow me’ and I proceeded to follow him into the office, cutting in front of all the others in line — I felt like a real ahole.
The man told me that it would be at least 30 min before someone can help me. I asked if there was a drop off box for payments and he said no. That there are two other ppl sitting right now that are trying to make payments. He said to sit and wait for him to give me a ticket # to be called.
So I waited 30 min. Then he came up to me again and said ‘there’s one person in front of you that will make payment, and another person who has questions to ask. Expect another 30 and 20 min wait’.
You feel so defeated you know. What can you do. What can you say. Who do you complain to. As I looked around at all the sad defeated ppl there (sitting in office AND standing in line), you could just *feel* the defeat in the entire room. It felt like we were in some sort of slave camp — just waiting for some one to serve us a bowl of gruel.
There was a heart felt story that afternoon though. The girl standing in front of the line had been patiently waiting there. She must have seen at least 5 ppl go in front of her to 1) wait in room to make payment or 2) talk to man about getting copies of transcripts. While I sat there in defeat, staring at wall like everyone else, I heard the girl come in. She asked the man if she could sit inside and possibly wait for her turn to get help. He wasn’t very nice to her and said that she had to wait her turn. She quietly and politely said ‘sir, I understand that. But I’ve been waiting in line all this time and don’t understand why I haven’t been helped.’ He said that payments have priority and that they are unstaffed today, etc etc. You could feel her frustration but her poise and grace really blew me away. She said that she understood when he told her they were out to lunch from 1−2p but that she had been there since 8am. He continued to tell her there’s no need to get angry — which she wasn’t AT ALL even though I thought she had every right to be. She said had she known it would be take this long she would have mailed her stuff (or something like that). And he just continued to be curt and rude to her. She asked for his name and his supervisors name and just left with her head held high — I wanted to run after her and shake her hand.
My number was finally called after 1+ hour of waiting. The agent didn’t smile or engage me. He actually shamed me b/​c I put the wrong payee info (note: don’t make check out to IRS, make it out to United States Treasury). I just looked down and said ‘sorry, I was in a hurry’. But thank you for shaming me Mr. IRS agent.
Bottom line. Don’t come here if it’s for something simple. Mail your payment or pay the 2% fee they charge online to process a credit card payment. I’ve called the IRS toll free # in the past and have gotten pretty decent help over the phone. I would rather do that than revisit this location again. For some reason, I thought visiting an IRS office would be easier/​better than visiting the DMV or SSA office. I couldn’t have been more wrong.