Last April, we talked about some of the challenges the IRS was having processing tax returns. Many of those challenges were due to the coronavirus pandemic, but federal stimulus measures also contributed to the agency’s workload. The IRS — like so many businesses — had to shut down for a while, putting an already-behind system under even more pressure as truckloads of tax returns sat outside closed offices for months.
It seems not much has changed. If you’re expecting a tax refund this year, you might want to get a chair. It could be a long wait.
The State of Things Past
According to The Washington Post, nearly 24 million Americans are still waiting on last year’s tax returns to be processed. Some refunds take ten months or more to arrive in taxpayers’ mailboxes or bank accounts. Those numbers are substantially larger than those initially reported when we wrote last year’s article on this topic. And this year is shaping up to be worse.
The IRS is trying to get a handle on the situation by hiring and training new employees. But that process takes time. And while new hires are furiously taking notes and working slowly through tax returns, more arrive for processing every day.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are aware of the issue, but many are stymied when it comes to solutions. And, of course, some don’t see the need for extra funding to help solve such an issue.
Where Are They Now?
The size of the current backlog varies depending on who’s answering the question. According to taxpayer advocates, as of January 28, the backlog of individual and corporate tax returns that require “manual processing” hovers at around 23.7 million. An IRS spokesperson says that 6 million of those are paper returns for individual taxpayers. To provide some perspective, before the pandemic, the IRS typically carried around one million returns from one year into the next.
What You Can Do
Most of the tax returns in the IRS backlog are paper returns that require some amount of manual processing. Electronically filed tax returns zip through the system quickly unless they’re flagged for some reason. This means the best thing you can do for yourself is to file your taxes on time electronically. And make sure they’re done correctly, so they don’t get flagged for any reason.
Adams Accounting Solutions Can Help
At Adams Accounting Solutions, we’re up to our eyeballs in tax returns right now. It’s to be expected at this time of year. We don’t have a backlog like the IRS does, but it still goes without saying that the sooner we get tax returns processed, the better for everyone.
If you need help preparing and filing your taxes this year, whether individual, corporate or both, give Adams Accounting Solutions a call. We’ll do everything we can to get your tax return electronically filed correctly and on time. The rest is up to the IRS!
