Due to the pandemic and related understaffing issues, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning of a difficult tax season this spring. However, the agency is taking steps to make things easier for taxpayers this year. 

The IRS has announced special Saturday hours at many Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country. The special hours will take place between  9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on four specific Saturdays: February 12, March 12, April 9, and May 14.

Appointments are not required, but those showing up for such hours are asked to bring a current government-issued photo ID, Social Security card, and any relevant letters or notices from the IRS. The IRS has shared more information about the hours on a dedicated website for them. 

"The IRS continues to do everything we can to help people during this unprecedented period," IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in the agency’s announcement. "Opening these assistance centers for special Saturday hours is designed to provide yet another way for people to get the help they need. We encourage people to review the details on these special Saturday hours so we can help serve them. I'm also extremely grateful to our employees who have stepped up to provide this special assistance.”

These extra hours are part of a continuing effort by the IRS to reassure taxpayers that it is doing the best it can to deal with a potentially tumultuous tax season this year. 

IRS Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Natasha Sarin told CBS News last month that the agency is operating this year with “thousands fewer employees than it needs,” and that both retirements and a shortage of funding are among the reasons why. "The IRS isn't going to be able to answer as many of those calls as it should be able to," Sarin told CBS in that report. "We know that that's going to be hugely frustrating for taxpayers in a complex filing season in the middle of a pandemic.” she said.

The IRS recently put out a statement seeking to reassure the public about its efforts heading into tax season, which will include surge teams, the use of technology to process returns faster, and overtime hours. “We are clearly not where we want to be at present. But our employees have been hard at work to develop innovative processes to expedite inventory reductions during the past year,” the IRS statement said. The statement also said that, “despite substantial progress thus far, another challenging filing season is ahead.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters.