@smith Like any large government organization, the IRS has some very nice people working there, as well as some jerks. Before you call, try to have a good idea of what your rights are and what you'd like to accomplish with the call. Once you're into the conversation, if you discover that you happened to get a jerk, you don't have to just be the effect of that. All you have to do is hang up the phone, but be sure to do it while you are in the middle of a sentence, even mid-word. So on their end it will sound like the line just got disconnected. Then call back after a few minutes. You will get the next person up and it is verrrry unlikely it will be the person you were talking to before. If you already got a jerk, it's also likely the next person will not be a jerk. So start again and maybe it will all go better. At the start of any IRS call, make sure you write down the name and ID number of the person you're talking with. If you'd like to practice with a dry run, you could call me and I'd be happy to give you some friendly coaching or tell you what to expect in your particular situation. No charge.