Pandemic Backlog

[Stuart O. Bronstein]

The Treasury Department and the IRS announced an aggressive plan to
end the pandemic inventory backlog this year. Deputy Secretary of the
Treasury Wally Adeyemo and IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig
traveled to the IRS Campus in Philadelphia where they outlined an
aggressive plan to end the backlog. This year, millions of taxpayers
are awaiting the processing of their tax returns and receipt of their
refunds. The backlog has created one of the most challenging tax
filing seasons in U.S. history. The IRS’s backlog challenges today
stem from two key sources. First, the agency has been chronically
underfunded for more than a decade, with its budget cut by nearly 20%
since 2010. The IRS workforce is the same size it was in 1970.
However, the U.S. population has grown by 60 percent and the
complexity of the economy has increased exponentially. Second, the
pandemic created a unique set of new operational challenges for the
IRS. The agency was called upon to support emergency relief for
taxpayers. This included distributing an unprecedented three rounds
of Economic Impact Payments, totaling over $830 billion, to 85
percent of American households. Including individual refunds, the IRS
has distributed over $1.5 trillion to Americans since the pandemic
began. To tackle the backlog, the IRS has laid out the following
approach.

--
Stu
http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

--
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[paultry]

On 04/22/2022 10:00, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:
> The Treasury Department and the IRS announced an aggressive plan to
> end the pandemic inventory backlog this year. Deputy Secretary of the
> Treasury Wally Adeyemo and IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig
> traveled to the IRS Campus in Philadelphia where they outlined an
> aggressive plan to end the backlog. This year, millions of taxpayers
> are awaiting the processing of their tax returns and receipt of their
> refunds. The backlog has created one of the most challenging tax
> filing seasons in U.S. history. The IRS’s backlog challenges today
> stem from two key sources. First, the agency has been chronically
> underfunded for more than a decade, with its budget cut by nearly 20%
> since 2010. The IRS workforce is the same size it was in 1970.
> However, the U.S. population has grown by 60 percent and the
> complexity of the economy has increased exponentially. Second, the
> pandemic created a unique set of new operational challenges for the
> IRS. The agency was called upon to support emergency relief for
> taxpayers. This included distributing an unprecedented three rounds
> of Economic Impact Payments, totaling over $830 billion, to 85
> percent of American households. Including individual refunds, the IRS
> has distributed over $1.5 trillion to Americans since the pandemic
> began. To tackle the backlog, the IRS has laid out the following
> approach.
>

Backlog not withstanding, return processing this year was
super quick! I always rough-up a return in January and pay
in a 4th quarter estimated payment sufficient to buy some
paper I Bonds for the grandkids. I leave a small amount to
be refunded so that I'll know when the return has been
processed. This year, I e-filed on April 17th, the refund
was in the bank five days later on April 22nd, and the I
bonds are coming in today's mail, 12 days after filing.