National Taxpayer Advocate delivers Annual Report to Congress; focuses on taxpayer impact of processing and refund delays
“National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her 2021 Annual Report to Congress, calling calendar year 2021 “the most challenging year taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced.” The report says tens of millions of taxpayers experienced delays in the processing of their returns, and with 77 percent of individual taxpayers receiving refunds, “processing delays translated directly into refund delays.” Click here to read this full release from the IRS.
‘The IRS is in crisis.’ Here’s what to know as taxpayer advocate warns of potential for refund delays in 2022
The upcoming tax-filing season is shaping up to be a chaotic one. The National Taxpayer Advocate on Wednesday released a report to Congress detailing processing issues at the IRS last year and also offering a warning for this year’s tax season, which will begin when the agency starts accepting 2021 returns on Jan. 24. “I am deeply concerned about the upcoming filing season,” said Erin M. Collins, the National Taxpayer Advocate. “Paper is the IRS’ Kryptonite, and the agency is still buried in it.” Click here to read this article from cnbc.com.
The IRS is ‘buried’ in paper after ‘most challenging’ year for taxpayers. Why it matters for 2022 tax season.
Declaring that last year was the worst tax filing season ever for Americans, the national taxpayer advocate told Congress in a report Wednesday that 2022 could see a similar logjam of returns and refunds. At a time when the IRS was charged with dispersing several rounds of federal economic relief to help Americans weather the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequate staffing, mounds of paperwork and a heightened workload made 2021 “the most challenging year taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced,” National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins wrote in her annual report. And 2022 might not be much better. Click here to read this article from usatoday.com.
Tax refunds could be delayed this year because of pandemic and budget issues, treasury officials say
According to the IRS website, there were 6 million unprocessed returns as of Dec. 23, 2021. There were also 2 million unprocessed amended tax returns, which is another category of returns. Last year’s filing season closed with 35 million unprocessed returns. Taxpayers faced a lack of assistance, as the IRS only answered 9% of calls. The pandemic forced many in-person call centers to close. Plus, budget cuts, spearheaded by the Republicans, resulted in a 25% of staff decrease. Click here to read this article from pennlive.com.
Blog by Erika McCloud – Communications Director
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