The tax advocates are not really helpful. I called on 02/18 and asked for an advocate because I had the 1095 issue. I told them my hardship which is I lost my job on 02/20 and my car is about to be repossessed because I already missed one payment. I have spoken to the advocate twice a week since 02/20 and she left me a voicemail message on Friday saying that she would speak to her manager on Monday and will call me at 9:00 am on Monday. Well, that did not happen. I called her on Tuesday and she completely forgot that she left me a voicemail saying that she would call me on Monday after she spoke to her manager. She told me that her manager said I will have to wait until the IRS updates the system, in my case, on the 28th. So I left a voicemail with her manager and his boss and have yet to receive a callback but both of their voicemails promise a return call within 3 business days. I spoke with an agent at the IRS last Friday and before the referred me back to the advocate they told me that they have finished processing my return and that there is a slight decrease in the amount I am going to get back due to the 1095 form. So they have finished their work but they still will not release my refund until the end of the month which falls right into the 4-6 weeks I was originally told by the IRS it would take for them to process my refund once they received the 1095 and 8962 forms. So, I am not sure what the purpose of the advocate is, maybe they just don't want irate customers yelling at the agents anymore, but they sure as hell are not doing anything to expedite returns. At least that is my experience with them.
