WASHINGTON (AP) — The national taxpayer advocate is cautioning that the 2026 tax filing season is likely to present challenges for taxpayers who encounter problems with filing their taxes given the exodus of IRS workers since the start of the Trump administration. National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins released her annual report to Congress on Wednesday, two days after the start of the 2026 season. Still, other IRS watchdogs have outlined major concerns at the start of the 2026 tax season. Diana M. Tengesdal, deputy inspector general for audit at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, wrote a letter to IRS leadership on Monday and pointed to IRS staffing at October 2021 levels, combined with thousands of unprocessed tax returns and taxpayer correspondence. Tengesdal’s office says despite new efforts to modernize tax administration, “initiatives to offset staffing losses may not yield expected benefits during the 2026 Filing Season.”More than 165 million individual income tax returns were processed in 2025, with 94% submitted electronically.