IRS Delays, What You Need to Know
I want to make you aware of the situation with ongoing IRS delays. I know some of you have already experienced problems with delayed refunds, or the inability to reach someone at the IRS to discuss your situation, and I know how frustrating this has been.
Recently, I attended a virtual town hall comprised of tax and accounting professionals/advocates from organizations across the US. They have formed a coalition to work towards convincing the IRS to make some changes that would help to alleviate the backlog of returns and the inability to get assistance from IRS staff. They have the support of over half of the House of Representatives, but so far there is no resolution.
Some of the IRS issues are as follows:
They are receiving 1,500 phone calls per SECOND. They are backlogged with return processing by anywhere between 6 and 10 million. These go back to returns filed in 2019. From what I understand, they are not allowed to work overtime and I have heard that when it is time to clock out at the end of the day, taxpayers on hold are simply hung up on.
If you’re one of the millions of Americans still waiting for your 2020 federal tax refund or a refund for an amended return, I sympathize with you. There are several reasons for the delays, but I can assure you that your return was prepared with the utmost care and expertise, and it is likely part of the sizable IRS backlog of returns. There is very little we can do but wait it out, although I encourage continued attempts to reach them.
If you did not receive your refund 21 days after filing (16 weeks for amended returns), it is likely that it is under further review or still in the pipeline to be processed. This happens more frequently when a return includes a recovery rebate credit, suspicion of identity theft or fraud, a claim for an earned income credit or other criteria that will ping a return for a manual review.
The past two years have been extraordinary, the least of which being the COVID-19 public health crisis and widespread unemployment. In addition, a series of stimulus payments from the federal government to help people navigate COVID-19 financial woes was also managed by the IRS, and to ensure all eligible citizens received stimulus money, the IRS told Americans that everyone should file a tax return.
Between more returns, unemployment amendments, issuing stimulus money and processing regular returns, the IRS has had its work cut out for it. Like many businesses during the pandemic, the IRS also had obstacles to overcome like switching its workforce from onsite to virtual and operating with a reduced staff.
If you receive any correspondence from the IRS regarding your return, please contact me with a copy of the letter you received, and I can guide you through it. I do not recommend making any payments to the IRS based on a letter received without first consulting with me. Unfortunately, due to the delays in processing, some notices are being sent by the IRS despite timely follow-up by you, or myself on your behalf. At this point, I am as powerless as you to speed up the IRS process, so patience is our best option right now.
The IRS sent letters with the amounts of both the stimulus payment and the advance child tax credit payments; however, I know not everyone has received their letter. If you did, please include those letters with your tax documents on SmartVault. They are encouraging taxpayers to check their online account at the IRS website to check against their letter and the amounts actually received. I have added the link below. If you do not already have an online account with the IRS, I encourage you to create one.