“Welcome to the Internal Revenue Service. Live telephone assistance is not available at this time. Normal operations will resume as soon as possible. You may continue to use our self-service tools or visit the IRS website at www.IRS.gov for the latest information. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) current automated phone response, transcribed above, means that the agency is unable to meet the needs of millions of Americans eager to get a jump-start on tax season this year, and taxpayers will have to wait out President Donald Trump’s feud with congressional Democrats over funding for his proposed border wall. As a result of the government’s longest-ever shutdown, the IRS is among the federal entities that are essentially closed.
But for college and high school students across the United States, the government shutdown has resulted in more than just an inconvenience. Without the ability to obtain documents from the IRS, students cannot definitively apply for financial aid.
📸: Getty Images