The IRS Collections Department

The average person will not be able to use this phone number for anything, as this is one of two numbers the Internal Revenue Service offers to help people who have received Form CP504 notifying them of a tax levy against them. Given that a levy is only assessed to people who have amassed at least $50,000 in monies owed to the IRS, most people will not find themselves in this situation.

That makes this number of no use to many because the IRS has set up a block point with its automated system that requires people to enter their Social Security number to proceed. When I called this number, I received the standard welcome message confirming that I had reached an official IRS number, as well as asking if I would prefer to proceed in English or Spanish.

I opted for English, and the system informed me that if my call had anything to do with stimulus payments regarding COVID-19, I could call a dedicated number for stimulus payments or send an e-mail to a specific address. I continued navigating the automated system as neither of these situations applied to me.

However, I hit the block point of having to enter my Social Security number. The IRS has this set up to confirm that only people who genuinely need assistance handling a tax levy use this number. As such, the SSN entry allows the automated system to instantly check if the person calling actually has a tax levy against them on their account. 

There is no option to transfer to another service that the IRS offers; your only options here are to enter your SSN or end the call. Not wishing to enter my SSN when I didn't need this particular service, I opted to end the call here.

As such, I cannot give a complete picture of what it's really like to call this number. I do appreciate the IRS segmenting its automated system to limit wait times. One of the best things about calling the IRS' helplines is that it consistently offers callbacks if you face long wait times, which almost every caller to the IRS does.

However, this is an effort to help limit wait times, which is quite appreciated. Given that the callers for this number need specific assistance and are facing a stressful situation, anything that can be done to minimize wait times is a good thing.

I do not recommend calling this number unless you know you face a tax levy or have received Form CP504. Given that you must enter your Social Security number to proceed, it's not recommended to do so with the IRS for unneeded assistance.