![]() ![]() ![]() GAO also interviewed cognizant IRS officials. GAO analyzed IRS documents and filing season performance data related to customer service, inventory processing, and hiring. This report assesses IRS's performance on (1) processing tax returns, (2) providing customer service to taxpayers, and (3) hiring staff to support filing season operations. GAO was asked to review IRS's performance during the 2022 filing season. Partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, IRS has faced significant return processing backlogs and a decline in customer service since 2020. IRS also provides telephone, correspondence, online, and in-person services to tens of millions of taxpayers. Why GAO Did This Studyĭuring the annual tax filing season, IRS processes more than 150 million individual and business tax returns. IRS officials said their recent hiring efforts will help prepare IRS for a strong 2023 filing season. As a result, about 95 percent of direct hires did not start working until after the 2022 filing season ended. However, this authority did not start until a month after the filing season began. IRS's direct hire authority allows it to make on-the-spot job offers to applicants. Addressing GAO's prior recommendation to modernize its online “Where's My Refund” application will help IRS better serve taxpayers and reduce the burden of additional calls and letters on IRS staff.Īs of September 2022, IRS met its hiring goals for fiscal year 2022 through a combination of direct and traditional hiring. Simply provide your banking information to the IRS at the time you are submitting your taxes. However, partly as a result, IRS answered less than one in five calls during the filing season. You can check the status of your refund using IRS’ Where’s My Refund Not using e-file You can still get all the benefits of Direct Deposit by getting your tax refund deposited into your account. IRS used a combination of strategies to work through this inventory, including reassigning staff from answering phones to processing correspondence. Total IRS Returns Inventory in Process, February to September 2022įrom January to September 2022, IRS reduced its prior year backlog of taxpayer correspondence from about 5 million to about 400,000. GAO previously recommended that IRS improve paper processing by digitizing more paper returns and addressing barriers to e-filing. However, as of late September 2022, IRS had about 12.4 million returns to process, resulting in refund delays for millions of taxpayers. As shown in the figure, IRS addressed its backlog of 2021 paper returns. At the end of 2021, IRS had a backlog of about 10.5 million paper returns and returns stopped for errors. In its third filing season since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) prioritized processing its backlog of tax returns but its current inventory of unprocessed returns remains high. ![]()
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