The IRS is struggling to hire, which means a massive backlog of tax returns and refunds ...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon May 17, 2021, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Personal Finance • Perspective

The IRS is struggling to hire, which means a massive backlog of tax returns and refunds, government watchdog says

As the May 17 filing deadline nears, the agency is dealing with broken printers and copiers along with staffing shortages — which might be why you haven’t received your refund

By Michelle Singletary
Columnist
May 11, 2021 at 5:29 p.m. EDT

Still waiting for your tax refund? Blame the processing backlog on an IRS staff shortage. And broken printers. ... During a recent online discussion about the upcoming May 17 tax deadline, many readers submitted questions expressing frustration about returns not yet processed and refunds delayed much longer than usual.

[Where’s my tax refund? The Post’s personal finance columnist answers your tax deadline questions.]

“Any idea when the IRS may issue me my tax refund for 2019?” one taxpayer asked. “I was unable to apply that refund to my 2020 tax liability. They have kept my money for over a year but want me to send them more money for 2020. It’s unsettling.” ... Another wrote: “Our return was digitally filed in late February. Last year our return was flagged for potential identity fraud, so this year we included a personal PIN. We still haven’t received our refund and are trying to figure out if it is just a delay or whether it’s likely our return was flagged again.”

“I had H&R Block prepare my taxes,” another desperate reader wrote. “The return was electronically filed on March 18 with direct deposit information. I received the state refund within 10 days, but have yet to receive the Federal. When I go to ‘Where’s My Refund,’ I am told it is being processed. How much longer do I wait before I contact the IRS, if that is even an option?”

Many just wanted to know whether it was something they did. ... It’s not you. It’s the backlog and staffing shortage at the IRS and broken copiers and printers at the agency’s processing centers. In some cases, printers are just out of ink or the waste cartridge container is full. Long before the 2021 tax season started, we knew there would be problems, because the pandemic shut down IRS offices. Then the agency had to send out tens of millions of stimulus payments.

{snip}

By Michelle Singletary
Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column The Color of Money. Her award-winning column is syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group and is carried in dozens of newspapers nationwide. Twitter https://twitter.com/SingletaryM

[underpants]

1. Technology in the Fed government is severely lacking

The IRS still uses magnetic tape to store info. This is no accident of course.

[progree]

2. Another problem - being falsely accused by IRS of making an error and owing

thousands in taxes. And then not responding meaningfully to responses --

In my case, I got a CP2000 from the IRS on Novemeber 11 saying I had not reported some retirement income (and thus owe $2,900). I quickly responded with some additional pages of my tax return backup information (the ones TurboTax labels "Keep For Your Records" ) showing that I had reported that income.

I got a response on 2/5/21 saying they needed more time, we'll have a complete response in 90 days

I got an identical response on 5/8/21 saying they needed more time, we'll have a complete response in 90 days

meanwhile, interest and penalties accumulate which I'll have to pay if they disagree somehow that I didn't report the income and owe the money.

And it just hangs and hangs and hangs over me.

In other words, their computers are humming away just fine looking for anomalies in peoples tax returns that their algorithms are designed to pick up, and their printers and mailing equipment are working just fine to send people notices of these anomalies, but they don't have enough human power to look into the responses they get (and/or to fix the algorithms which must be having a hell of a time with all the Pandemic era 2020-2021 tax changes and declaring missed stimulus payments and the $300 deductible charitable contributions for non-itemizers and and )

Further detail: https://www.democraticunderground.com/11212509    (note to myself: 20.JAH a2.d)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. The federal government has deemed my money acceptable.

It made the withdrawal for my income tax payment last Thursday.