IRS delays payments for millions of taxpayers
The start of a new year brings with it many changes for the IRS, including a new commissioner, billions of dollars to spend and only two months to develop a plan to spend it. The IRS faces an ongoing problem with delays in processing mail and phone calls, causing long waits and communication disruptions for taxpayers. A report from the American Public Accountability Office finds that the IRS is providing poor customer service and delaying tax payments due to backlogs that have lasted three years.
At the end of September 2022, the IRS had approximately 12,4 million unprocessed returns, causing payment delays for millions of taxpayers. The IRS certainly hasn't been idle and has managed to reduce the number of unprocessed taxpayer requests. The number of unprocessed requests fell from 5 million to 400 thousand from January to September 2022, but to do this, the IRS was forced to transfer employees answering telephone calls to processing mail, which led to the IRS responding to less than one in five calls.
IRS Spending Plan:
The US Treasury secretary has given the IRS six months to put together a plan outlining how it will use the $80 billion that Congress has allocated over the next decade. The plan should describe how the IRS intends to improve service to taxpayers, purchase modern technology and increase efforts to go after wealthy tax evaders. The plan must contain metrics and address the expected retirement of approximately 50 IRS employees over the next five years. The plan must be ready by February 000, 17.
President Joe Biden intends to nominate Danny Werfel, a former interim IRS commissioner, to replace Charles Rettig. Werfel will lead the IRS amid distrust expressed by Republicans who now control the House of Representatives about the agency and its new funds, as well as delays in processing paper returns and poor phone service.
Author Elina Linderman
