It’s that time of year again. Time for you to send in your protection money so Guido doesn’t have to come around and take it from you.

The Internal Revenue Service seems less interested in providing “customer service” and more in intimidating you into paying up, whether you truly owe anything or not.

A report released Wednesday by the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate showed that the IRS expects to answer only 71 percent of phone calls made to its 1-800-TAX-1040 help line this tax filing season, and callers to the line are expected to spend an average of 12 minutes on hold.

“This level of service is unacceptable for taxpayers who require assistance,” National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson wrote in the report, noting that the poor “level of service” would cause many people to give up on filing tax returns or make “avoidable errors.” The long hold times and call abandonment rate are “this year’s number one most serious problem for taxpayers.”

IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge told the Washington Post that the agency has dealt with a rising number of calls over the years and that the IRS “is committed to providing the best possible service to every taxpayer. . . . The bottom line is we have answered millions more phone calls in the last two years than ever before.”

In the private sector, a good level of service is considered answering 96 to 97 percent of calls; with only 2 or 3 percent of callers “abandoning,” or hanging up before a representative can answer. The IRS has not been above 82.6% in the last five years, according to the report.

The report also noted that the IRS collected far less in delinquent tax payments than it had originally reported. For the fiscal years 2005 through 2007, the IRS actually collected $86 billion in delinquent payments, but reported a figure of $118 billion, burying the lower number in a footnote. Worse, “There is an astonishing lack of transparency as to what is included in these revenue figures and how they are computed,” the report noted.

In addition, it said the IRS relies too much on automated filing of liens, which are claims against the taxpayer’s property or income. The liens, it noted, are increasingly used against taxpayers with little income or assets, making it even harder for them to pay back taxes. The IRS claimed it needed to use the automated liens to force taxpayers to eventually pay, and that the liens meant the government would have priority over other bills such as student loans or medical bills.

In practice, such a lien placed on poor people can literally ruin their lives, making it difficult or impossible to pay rent or buy groceries. Such people may lose their jobs or move into the underground economy simply to stay alive.

If you’re still one of the majority of Americans and haven’t told the government to stick it and stopped paying taxes entirely, here’s hoping you don’t make a mistake on your forms and have to suffer a visit from Guido.