Please give the IRS a bit of extra time this year. If your return is very straightforward, it will slide through the mechanized system, and you probably won’t see much of a difference from previous years. If there’s anything on it that might require a bit of additional review or a different process, having Unemployment income, for example, it will definitely take longer than usual. The IRS is shorthanded given the enormous increase in work due to COVID. For example, right now, they are reviewing all the returns with Unemployment income. That’s slowing down the processing of other returns that might need to go through additional processing steps.
Some of you have reported that your mortgage companies cannot get transcripts, and there’s at least one 2019 refund still outstanding. The IRS is answering only a fraction of phone calls with minimum hold times of 45 minutes or more. After long holds, many are getting dial tones in their ears. The IRS also has a mail backlog.
The IRS has been shorthanded for a long time. Their technology also needs to be updated. Scrimping on the IRS budget means that the IRS can’t engage in more expensive projects – like auditing the wealthy. It places an undue and unfair burden on working-class taxpayers. Small businesses are notorious for cheating a bit on their taxes. The problem is that it’s easy to catch. When the IRS audits smalls and micros, it always finds more than the audit costs. This is not a secret. It’s been openly testified to in front of Congress.
Enforcement, in general, has been very low for the past couple of decades, but it is going to pick up. Proceed accordingly.
