WASHINGTON (AP) -- Taxpayers calling the IRS for help processing their taxes this filing season may find it harder than normal to get someone on the phone, experts say, a problem that is only expected to get worse next year with staffing cuts that could slash the workforce considerably.

For this year, data of tax return processing times shows numbers largely in line with those from last year. IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were not allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline of April 15, though thousands of probationary workers were laid off earlier this year.

Legal experts in tax compliance say the long wait times are going to increase as more buyouts and layoffs take effect.

Eric Santos, the executive director of the Georgia Tax Clinic, which provides free tax law services to low-income taxpayers, says wait times for the IRS' phone line are markedly longer than usual and IRS staff are overwhelmed with the increase in work.

The IRS staff "basically tell us they don't have time to look at certain cases," Santos said. "The work is getting spread across fewer and fewer people."

The reduction in workers -- which may end up being nearly half the entire IRS workforce -- is part of the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency by closing agencies, laying off nearly all probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection and offering buyouts to almost all federal employees through a "deferred resignation program."

Earlier this month, the IRS began layoffs that could end up cutting as many as 20,000 staffers -- up to 25% of the total workforce. The roughly 7,000 probationary IRS workers who were laid off beginning in February were recently ordered to be reinstated by a federal judge, though it's unclear whether those workers have been called back into work.

Comparing figures through the first week of April from 2024 and 2025, 101.4 million returns were processed this year compared to 101.8 million tax returns last year. Refunds are up, with 67.7 million issued this year compared with 66.7 million in 2024.

But Santos and others worry that the 2026 filing season could be negatively impacted by the loss of thousands of additional tax collection workers who are expected to exit the agency through planned layoffs and buyouts.

"I don't see how they're going to keep up with tax filing season next year," Santos said. "I think its a fair question to ask now."

A Treasury spokesperson who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity said in a statement that IRS staffing reductions were part of other improvements the agency is taking to be more efficient and improve service.

Sakinah Tillman, director of the University of the District of Columbia Tax Clinic, has not seen a delay in processing refunds this year but has seen delays in reaching the IRS by phone.

She worries that the phone delays could hurt clients going through collections who are trying to settle their debts.

"What happens when clients try to become compliant?" she asked. "Or when people who are willing and able to pay but they just can't get someone on the phone?

Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the AP that even in a normal year the IRS' responsiveness slows the further into tax season it gets.

"Next year, if they cut 10,000 or 20,000 employees, they're headed back to really bad taxpayer service on the phone," he said. "And the taxpayer priority line will become an oxymoron."