IRS CEO Frank Bisignano met with tax professionals at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum in New York City last week as part of the agency’s efforts to engage with taxpayers and their representatives.

The New York City stop of the IRS’s premier education and networking event for tax practitioners was held on Aug. 18 to 20. Two more tax forums will be held in Orlando and San Diego in September; both events are sold out.

During the New York City event, Bisignano and tax professionals discussed the implementation of Trump Accounts; the guidance related to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans are now calling Working Families Tax Cuts; lessons learned from the 2026 tax filing season; and the expectations for the 2027 filing season, according to the IRS.

“The input and feedback that the IRS receives from tax practitioners improves the tax collection and administration process,” Bisignano, who also heads the Social Security Administration, said in a statement. “Tax professionals play a critical role in our tax system by providing an important link between the Service and the taxpaying public, helping them to understand and meet their tax obligations.”

Having the opportunity to meet with Bisignano demonstrates the strong relationship between the IRS and the stakeholder community, said Orumé Hays, president-elect of the New York State Society of CPAs.

“Through my years of participation on the NYCPA’s Relations with the IRS Committee, I have witnessed firsthand the benefits of this collaboration. It has helped foster open communication, strengthen mutual understanding, and support our shared commitment to effective tax administration and quality service to taxpayers,” she said in a statement on Aug. 25.

During the 2026 filing season, the IRS said it processed more than 144 million income tax returns, 98% of refunds were delivered electronically, and the average refund was up by 11% over the prior year. 

During her midyear report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins credited the IRS’s continued technology transformation efforts as a primary driver of its success this tax season. The significant majority of returns were processed via automation and without issue, allowing most taxpayers to file their returns and receive their refunds without delay, her report says.

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Continued improvements in online accounts provided valuable self-service options for taxpayers, she noted. Taxpayers logged into their Individual Online Accounts nearly 121 million times during the filing season, while the IRS expanded account functionality to allow taxpayers to upload documents in response to certain notices, receive refund status notifications, update direct deposit information in some circumstances, and access additional account information. Taxpayers used their online accounts to view tax documents needed to prepare their returns, accessing information returns more than 3.7 million times.

Taxpayers also made extensive use of the IRS’s refund-tracking tools. During the filing season, taxpayers checked the status of their refunds through the IRS’s Where’s My Refund? tool about 346 million times, a 9% increase from the prior year, according to the report.

“The IRS is often held up as the poster child for antiquated government technology infrastructure, and there is certainly some truth to that characterization. But the IRS has been improving its technology year by year, and as long as it gets the IT right, most taxpayers file their returns and receive their refunds without delay,” Collins said in the report.

Bisignano and IRS leadership will continue to meet with taxpayers and tax professionals to get their feedback on ways to improve tax administration now and in the future, the agency said.

Photo caption: IRS CEO Frank Bisignano (Social Security Administration/Facebook)

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