IRS Backlog Of 35 Million – Struggles To Keep Up With the influx of Tax Returns

The IRS is struggling to keep up with the influx of tax returns. The agency has been inundated this year and there are still millions that need processing!

The I.R.S. had a backlog of 35 million returns by the end of the tax season and is expected to continue growing in the next year. There are many reasons for this, including an increase in online filings, the complexity of tax law, and R&D taking longer than expected.

Millions of tax returns are still awaiting processing by the Internal Revenue Service, which has faced a far bigger backlog than in years past. That means any refunds due for those Americans have also been delayed. About 70 percent of the individual returns processed so far have been due refunds, with an average size of $2,827!

The IRS has received more than 35 million returns this year, a three-fold increase from last year. But they’re not in the clear yet – 80% of all processed federal tax returns are filed within two months after April 15th and with only one week left until mid-May (the filing deadline is May 17), there’s still over 3 million waiting to be processed!

A spokesperson for the I.R.S has announced that they are processing returns constantly, and have processed almost seven million individual tax returns since last year’s end of the season, with more than 15 million being in some stage of processing as well!

The I.R.S processed 136 million individual income tax returns by the end of the filing season, and issued 96 million refunds totaling about $270 billion! The 35.3 million returns that were still outstanding at the end of to processing pipeline included individuals and businesses-the taxpayer advocate said those required some sort of manual assistance before they could be pushed through next stage process pipelines for wage earners who work away from home or small business owners with a few employees.

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/business/irs-tax-return-backlog.html