I speak from experience. The IRS claims there is a back log of over 11 million returns that have not been processed. The Taxpayer Advocates estimates double that amount .
The I.R.S. Backlog of Unprocessed Tax Returns Has Grown to 21 Million - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I am a victim of this delay ;and they owe me a big return . This is happening DESPITE the fact that more than 80% of the filings were done e file The clock started ticking on the compounding 5% interest they owe me in addition to the return as of 45 days after April 18. Want to know where your tax dollars are going ? Mine is high .But just calculate the interest compounded on the average return this year of $3,039 for 21 million plus late returns .
In a blistering report to Congress the advocate Erin M Collins wrote
2023 Objectives Report to Congress - Taxpayer Advocate Service (irs.gov)
The IRS has said it is aiming to crush the backlogged inventory this year, and I hope it succeeds,"...."Unfortunately, at this point the backlog is still crushing the IRS, its employees, and most importantly, taxpayers. As such, the agency is continuing to explore additional processing strategies."
“The IRS’s paper processing delays were evident more than a year ago, and the IRS could have addressed them more aggressively at that time. Had the IRS taken steps a year ago to reassign current employees to processing functions, it could have reduced the inventory backlog carried into this filing season and accelerated the payment of refunds to millions of taxpayers. Had the IRS implemented 2-D barcoding, optical character recognition, or similar technology in time for the 2022 filing season, it could have reduced the need for employees to engage in the highly manual task of transcribing paper tax returns. Had the IRS quickly used some of the $1.5 billion of additional funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which was enacted 15 months ago, to hire and train additional employees, it could have worked through the backlog, answered more taxpayer telephone calls, and otherwise improved taxpayer service. These were missed opportunities.”
So a good question would be what did the IRS do with $1.5 billion extra allocated monopoly bucks ?
She went on to criticize the IRS responses to taxpayer complaints.
This has been completely frustrating. The on line services do not address it .Phone calls to the IRS are hung up by the score . It seems to be a completely unresponsive agency. .
The IRS’s telephone service has continued to be unacceptably poor. In 2021, the IRS received 167 million calls during the filing season. Telephone assistors answered nine percent, and hold times averaged 20 minutes. This filing season, the IRS received 73 million calls, telephone assistors answered ten percent, and hold times averaged 29 minutes. In ordinary times, if calls dropped by more than half from one year to the next and staffing remained relatively constant, IRS employees predictably would answer about double the percentage of calls in the second year. But that didn’t happen because Accounts Management employees perform double duty – they answer most of the telephone lines, and they also process taxpayer correspondence, including some amended returns. To help reduce the correspondence backlog, the IRS made the decision to shift employees toward processing correspondence and away from the phones. I agree with and applaud that decision. The IRS must get current on processing returns, refunds, and correspondence. However, the allocation of more employees to handle correspondence has made the IRS as hard to reach as last year, with nine out of ten calls not reaching an employee.”
In my case the IRS claimed in a letter that they had not received from my employer documentation about a roll over I made from a 401-K to an IRA. That was a lie .My complete filing is on line and on my personal IRS web page. Still I mailed them in certified mail a duplicate . Still the delay continues ;and I have been repeatedly hung up on by the pajama person who is processing their calls . There appears to be no relief . Next attempt is a note to my Congressional Rep and Senators .
Right now I am not taking Social Security payments .I rely completely on taxable IRA withdrawals and some savings I was hoping to not deplete . I not have access to my money being held up by the IRS ,;not due to my error ;.but due to their incompetence . I am forced instead to use taxable withdrawals from my retirement funds much larger than I planned or budgeted for when I retired .
