Lifehacker: “Whether you’re filling a prescription, rebooking a flight, or asking a question about your taxes, it seems like the first line of defense between you and any sort of real human helper is a never-ending string of automated prompts. But not all questions can be answered by a computer—especially when it comes to your taxes. The IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns for 2024 to be filed this season, which has a deadline of April 15, 2025. That’s a lot of taxpayers on hold. Over the past few years, the IRS has certainly made improvements on its phone service, as well as expanding online tools. Still, anyone who has tried calling the IRS knows it can seem impossible to get a real human to take your call. Of course, the IRS recommends checking its online resources before calling. It has a list of common issues that might answer your question about your tax return, payments, or identity theft concerns. But sometimes you need to talk to a real person. To do this, I used what I like to call the “1-2-3″ hack to reach an actual agent within 60 seconds. Here’s how you can reach someone that quickly, too..”