92% of paper returns stuck in the backlog.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
tax preparers would be wise to advise their clients to e-file this year. according to the government accountability office and the taxpayer advocate service, the irs is not keeping up with paper returns.
in fact, it seems to be barely trying.
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chickenfeed
the covid-19 pandemic is only part of the problem. yes, of course, last year, with irs offices shuttered and phones shut down for months, a backlog built up. by the end of the year, “irs had a significant backlog of returns and taxpayer correspondence,” according to the gao.
the tas praised the irs for efficiently dealing with digital returns, but when it had to push actual paper, the work piled up faster than it could be processed. by mid-july of 2020, 98 percent of e-filed individual returns had been processed, but in december, the irs had a backlog of 5.5 million individual and 7.6 million business returns, 92 percent of them filed on paper.
part of the problem is that the irs has not found an effective way for teleworkers to handle paper returns. in fact, even as a third of irs staff are on paid leave, the irs has not found a generally effective way to give them alternative work assignments.
the delays are more than an inconvenience to taxpayers. the cost of interest payments on delayed refunds increased 50 percent in 2020, from $2.06 billion to $3.03 billion in 2020.
a billion dollars may seem like chicken feed these days, but it can add up. and add up it will if the irs fails to figure out what to do.
“irs has not revised its estimates for addressing all of the backlogs due to operational uncertainties created by the pandemic,” the gao said in a march 2021 report, “actions needed to address processing delays and risks to the 2021 filing season.” “doing so would help irs determine how best to address the backlog and perform 2021 filing season activities.”
in october of last year, at the urging of the gao, the irs identified some of the risks to the 2021 filing season, but, the report said, it stopped short of addressing all essential elements of enterprise risk management, such as identifying options for risk response.
businesses too reliant on paper
among the many things not identified are the reasons that 23 percent of businesses filed paper returns in 2020 even when e-filing was an option. that represents an increase of 26 percent over 2019.
even though paper returns are more costly and labor-intensive than e-filed returns, the irs has not taken specific actions to increase e-filing.
forty percent of business-related tax forms cannot be electronically filed. typically, these forms come into play when the irs identifies errors or suspected identity theft, in which case taxpayers need to respond with hard-copy documents.
recommendations
the gao recommends that the irs:
- revise its estimates for resolving its backlog of work from the 2020 filing season
- track business refund processing, such as through irs’s weekly performance tracking
- conduct an assessment to comprehensively identify barriers taxpayers face to e-filing business-related returns
- determine what actions irs could take to address the barriers and implement those actions, as feasible
- identify and consider implementing actions to transition staff currently on leave to active work status; this could include reassigning staff to other tasks that can be performed remotely
- identify and document all risks to the 2021 filing season; conduct a comprehensive risk assessment, including determining the likelihood of these risks occurring and potential impact of these risks on irs’s ability to carry out its mission-essential functions; and identify options to respond to each identified risk
- monitor risks, and communicate irs’s plans to manage risks and provide status updates to stakeholders
15 responses to “the irs’s $3-billion problem”
rebecca argyle
i’m another of four and i’ve yet to see a penny of my federal return nor my economic impact payment! i’m going through a hell of a time maintaining my home and my children’s needs. i was banking on that money to build on to my house to provide more space for my kids. this is bullshit, you guys take your money before i even get my check in my hand!!!! get with it and get it right.
shelia
irs please stop the bull crap. i need my money. i filed my taxes feb 15th 2021. ain’t receive shit yet
marissa creager
so – what do those of us as sole proprietors do? my 2019 taxes are “in the cloud” and i’m shackled. no $600. n0 $1400. and now they are saying “wait” on filing your 2020 taxes . . .
mary eberhardt
i’ve been waiting for my federal return for a long time it’s just messed up the irs is short on staff. i need my return so i can pay my bills and move
cooper glenn
good luck with that!
mark w. lee
one of the most venal and profoundly stupid things politicians do is cut funding for the irs in order to brag about it back home. the ignorant, misguided attempt to “cut taxes” by crippling the agency that collects them makes much less sense than daylight savings time, another example of their brilliance and leadership brio. ninety percent of irs problems can be traced to congressional cowardice. i’m actually surprised the agency does as well as it manages to. working with a target drawn on your back by the institution that is responsible for funding your job is not particularly conducive to productivity or efficiency.
yotam mendlinger
politicians cut irs budget. not to cut taxes. but to let the rich and corporations get away with tax cheating!!!
simone maloney
the corona virus was not all that bad. many medical operatives inflated the number of cases in order to increase their monetary benefits from the government.
i know only one person who contracted the virus. others simply had colds etc. normal for the seasons.
a friend had a heart attack, the hospital called it covid.
irs should know that all the precautions the cdc required changes every day. it’s an on & off game their.
playing there’s no reason good enough to stay in anymore.
bob cannata
nice to see we have a medical expert among us! stick to what you know , not to what rush tells you!
munch
rush is gone.
greg williams
maybe getting everyone back to work would solve the problem. my guess is that paying irs workers to stay at home without being able to work from home cost more than $3 billion…
raymond schultheis
” even as a third of irs staff are on paid leave, the irs has not found a generally effective way to give them alternative work assignments.” what kind of management is that? wouldn’t you like to be paid a third of the time for not working? and if those who work from home can’t handle paperwork then they can’t work from home, pretty simple isn’t it? it’s time for the public servants to serve the public.
jerry w pemberton
i don’t believe the issue is that the workers can’t handle the paperwork, but rather the irs hasn’t figured out how to get paperwork to the workers or give them alternative work.
belinda arabie
i agree.
tony col
agreed! uuuhhhhh it’s been a full year now, and between all these states (especially ours in pa) where not one person working at the pa dept. of revenue answers phones or responds to email or portal messages – and also irs employees who are still “working” from home or on “leave”…… get to work and lets stop the bull…..