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Social Security's Paris Office Stopped Taking Calls. Here's How to Reach SSA and the IRS From Abroad This October

• By VoixCall Team
Social Security's Paris Office Stopped Taking Calls. Here's How to Reach SSA and the IRS From Abroad This October

If you’re an American living abroad, October has two phone problems in it.

The first is new. The U.S. Embassy in Paris has posted an important phone service notice on its Social Security page: “Effective October 1, 2026 our office will no longer accept incoming phone calls.” The Federal Benefits Unit there now takes post and email only, and sends callers to Social Security’s International Call Center in the United States.

The second comes around every year. If you filed an extension for your 2025 tax return, October 15, 2026 is the filing deadline, as CubaHeadlines reported on October 3. Americans abroad can ask for extra time on top of that, but only if the request reaches the IRS by the same date.

So for many people the only way to talk to a person at either agency is now a phone number in the United States. This post lists the official numbers, says when they’re open in your time zone, and explains how to dial them without a large roaming bill.

What changed at Social Security, and what didn’t

Social Security has no offices of its own outside the U.S. Its International Operations page explains that it relies on U.S. embassies and consulates to help people abroad (Canadian residents are served by domestic border offices). Those embassy teams are the Federal Benefits Units, or FBUs.

The Paris notice applies to the Paris office. We haven’t seen the same notice on other embassy pages, so check your own country’s FBU page before you assume your local office has stopped taking calls. Wherever you live, though, the central number is the same:

Social Security, for people outside the U.S.Details
International Call Center1-855-522-6936
HoursMonday to Friday, 7:00am to 5:00pm Eastern Time
Emailoio.net.post@ssa.gov
Fax1-877-385-0645

That 855 number is listed on Social Security’s own International Operations page, which also includes a caveat: “while our toll-free number is intended to provide free access around the world, charges may be applied by your local network carrier if you are calling from outside the United States.” In other words, the call may not be free for you, and the agency can’t tell you what your carrier will charge.

The same page carries a second notice worth knowing about. Because of disruptions to international mail, “some countries have suspended mail services to the United States,” so documents posted to Social Security from abroad “may be delayed or undelivered.” If you planned to mail a form and wait, it’s worth calling or emailing first to confirm what they need.

The IRS numbers for taxpayers abroad

The IRS’s usual 800-829-1040 line is for callers in the U.S. The IRS publishes a separate international line on its Contact my local office internationally page:

IRS, for taxpayers outside the U.S.Details
International Taxpayer Service Call Center+1 267-941-1000 (not toll-free)
HoursMonday to Friday, 6:00am to 11:00pm Eastern Time
Fax (international tax account issues only)+1 681-247-3101
Live chatMonday to Friday, 6:00am to 11:00pm ET. You need an active IRS Online Account

The same page notes that taxpayer service at overseas posts “is no longer available,” so the phone line, chat and mail are the options.

The October 15 deadline, in plain terms

  • If you extended with Form 4868, your 2025 return is due October 15, 2026. The extension gave you more time to file, not more time to pay. The IRS charges interest on tax paid after the regular due date, according to its page on extensions for citizens abroad.
  • If you’re out of the country and need longer, IRS Publication 54 describes a discretionary 2-month extension to December 15. You ask by sending the IRS a letter explaining why you need it, “by the extended due date (October 15 for calendar-year taxpayers).” You won’t hear back unless the request is denied. The extension isn’t available if you already have an approved Form 2350 extension.

Publication 54 is the authority here. If you aren’t sure which extension applies to you, it’s worth a call to the international line before the 15th rather than after.

When the lines are open where you are

Both agencies keep U.S. Eastern hours. Until October 25, when Europe changes its clocks, those hours look like this:

SSA (7am to 5pm ET)IRS (6am to 11pm ET)
London12:00 to 22:0011:00 to 04:00 the next day
Paris, Berlin13:00 to 23:0012:00 to 05:00 the next day
India (IST)16:30 to 02:3015:30 to 08:30 the next day

U.S. clocks change on November 1, and after that India is a further hour later (SSA from 17:30 IST).

How to place the call from abroad

You have three realistic ways to dial these numbers.

1. Your mobile on roaming, or a local SIM dialling internationally. This works, but the carrier sets the price, and Social Security itself warns that you may be charged for its “toll-free” number. Before a long call, check your carrier’s per-minute rate to the U.S. Government phone lines often mean a long wait on hold, so the minutes add up.

2. Chat, email or post, where it’s offered. The IRS’s international live chat is a good option if you already have an IRS Online Account. Social Security’s email address is listed above. Neither is quick for anything complicated, and post is unreliable from some countries at the moment.

3. An internet calling service. This is what we built VoixCall for. You call from the browser on a laptop, or from the iOS or Android app, and the call reaches the agency’s real phone line through the U.S. network. Because of that, U.S. toll-free numbers like 1-855-522-6936 connect from any country, which is often not true from a foreign SIM.

We checked VoixCall’s live rates for both numbers before publishing:

NumberVoixCall rate (October 6, 2026)
Social Security, 1-855-522-6936 (U.S. toll-free)$0.027 per minute
IRS international, +1 267-941-1000$0.027 per minute

Calls are billed per minute. An hour on the line, hold music included, costs $1.62. You pay from prepaid credit, with no subscription, and your first call is free. To check a rate yourself, enter the number in the dialer before you call and it shows the price.

A few VoixCall features help with this kind of call:

  • Your own number as caller ID. If you verify the phone number Social Security or the IRS has on file, the agent sees a number they recognise instead of an unknown one.
  • Recording and an AI summary, if you want them. Recording costs $0.003 per minute. If you also switch on call transcripts ($0.02 per minute, opt-in), you get a short summary after the call with any reference numbers, dates and next steps that were mentioned. That’s handy when an agent reads out a case number while you’re juggling papers. Only record where that’s lawful, and tell the agent you’re recording.
  • Ask your AI assistant. If you’ve connected VoixCall to Claude or ChatGPT, you can ask what a number costs to call or look up a past call there. It can’t place calls for you. Setup is here.

VoixCall is one option among several. If your carrier has a cheap U.S. calling add-on or you already pay for a calling plan, use that.

A short checklist before you dial

  1. Have your identifiers ready. For Social Security that’s your Social Security number and any letter or claim number. For the IRS it’s your SSN or ITIN, the tax year, and any notice you’ve received.
  2. Write down the time and the agent’s name or ID when they answer. If you have to call back, you won’t have to start over.
  3. Ask for a reference number for anything they promise to do, and confirm where to send documents. With post unreliable from some countries, ask whether fax or email is acceptable.
  4. For the December 15 extension, send your letter so it reaches the IRS by October 15, and keep a copy along with proof of when you sent it.

Sources, all checked on October 6, 2026: U.S. Embassy & Consulates in France, Social Security Administration: Paris; Social Security Administration, Service Around the World: International Operations; IRS, Contact my local office internationally; IRS, Publication 54 and Extensions of time to file; CubaHeadlines, Deadline Approaching: IRS Tax Extension Cutoff on October 15 (October 3, 2026). Phone numbers and hours change, so confirm them on the agency’s own page before you rely on them.