IRS Employees Help with Hurricane Relief

Cross References

IR-2024-255 As part of efforts to help victims of Hurricane Helene, the Internal Revenue Service is taking special steps to provide more than 500 employees to help with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster relief call lines and sending IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) agents into devastated areas to help with search and rescue efforts and other relief work.

The IRS has assigned more than 500 customer service representatives from Dallas and Philadelphia to help FEMA phone operations. The IRS employees answer the FEMA calls and intake initial information to help disaster victims get federal relief.

For nearly 20 years, the IRS has stepped in to help FEMA during national emergencies by providing help on phone lines during peak demand periods following hurricanes and other disasters. During the past decade, more than 10,000 IRS phone assistors have helped FEMA call centers, answering more than 1.6 million calls from storm survivors seeking help.

IRS Criminal Investigation is also continuing its long-standing practice to help during disaster situations. A team of 16 special agents from across the country were initially deployed to the Tampa area to help with search and rescue teams. The IRS team then moved to North Carolina to assist with door-to-door search efforts. As part of this work, the IRS-CI agents are also assisting FEMA with security and protection for relief teams and their equipment.