IRS BACKLOG UPDATE

[Lee B]

The IRS still has 3 million pieces of unopened mail plus 1 million unprocessed paper filed tax returns.

[ETax847]

How will they ever get caught up by the time tax season starts?

[Possi]

No other company in the UNIVERSE would have that kind of backlog. Why does the government accept this kind of inept operation to continue? 

It blows my mind. 

I work for myself and would fire me if I was that bad. 

[Lee B]

33 minutes ago, Possi said:

No other company in the UNIVERSE would have that kind of backlog. Why does the government accept this kind of inept operation to continue? 

It blows my mind. 

I work for myself and would fire me if I was that bad. 

The IRS has been understaffed and underfunded since 2011. This situation is like slow moving avalanche moving downhill. It will not be fixed anytime soon.

[BulldogTom]

@PossiI don't know if you have the correct perspective on this situation.   I would love to have 3 Million clients returns in backlog who could not go to another business to get their tax work done.   I think the IRS must have hired some Ivy League MBA to create their business plan.   It is brilliant.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Catherine]

3 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

I think the IRS must have hired some Ivy League MBA to create their business plan.   It is brilliant.

Plus complete job security - you can't even be fired for being a totally incompetent loser (although most are OK, some are good, some are VERY good, and some are tolerable).  Great pension and health benefits.  Yeah, everyone in the country hates your guts (details, details) - but they don't know it's YOU, either!

[Possi]

15 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

@PossiI don't know if you have the correct perspective on this situation.   I would love to have 3 Million clients returns in backlog who could not go to another business to get their tax work done.   I think the IRS must have hired some Ivy League MBA to create their business plan.   It is brilliant.

Tom
Modesto, CA

HAHAHAHAA!! 

Funny, not funny. I'm so torn! 

I miss everybody. Can't wait for COVID to have a vaccine and we can gather again. 

[ILLMAS]

Just imagine if someone from your office gets COVID and you are forced to shutdown your entire  office and clients have no sympathy and want there information done now.  

[ILLMAS]

2 hours ago, ILLMAS said:

Just imagine if someone from your office gets COVID and you are forced to shutdown your entire  office and clients have no sympathy and want there information done now.  

FYI not trying to be an A-hole here

[Sara EA]

Aren't we being a little too harsh on the beleaguered IRS?  The virus shut them down at the worst possible time (must be one of Murphy's laws).  Unlike most of us, their employees can't just take home a box of unopened mail containing sensitive taxpayer data to work on there.  At one time they had several lots the size of football fields of tractor trailers filled with mail, so they are making progress.

At the same time they had to get out a zillion economic stimulus payments.  Then they must have had a hundred zillion phone calls about it (a few zillion more than we had).  Then there were the PPP loans and another few zillion calls and a zillion tons of new paperwork.  I think they've pulled off something close to a miracle by handling all this. They only have a few million pieces of mail left to open AND prepare for the upcoming filing season.  Piece of cake.

A bright spot is that since so many employees working from home were set up with phones, call wait times were reduced this year. Credit where credit is due.  

[BulldogTom]

14 hours ago, Sara EA said:

Aren't we being a little too harsh on the beleaguered IRS? 

No.   No.   No.   We are not.   When the government makes so many intrusions into our life, demanding we do work for them, with no thought or allowance for our personal issues or struggles, then they should be treated the same way.    If the NBA can put a bubble up and complete their season, then the IRS should be able to do the same.   Put them all in a hotel next to the service centers and make them work from the bubble until the backlog is completed.

Sorry to sound so unfeeling or uncaring.   I know the people who work there are our neighbors, but the job needs to get done and I don't see a sense of urgency from  the service to do the work of the people that they are charged to do.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Lee B]

Tom, I must say that I agree with Sara

[ETax847]

I side with Tom on this one.

[jklcpa]

Let's not get off track by delving into the whys and wherefores or by choosing up sides here because we aren't going to go there.  We're all trying our best to get the work done and keep our clients happy while the IRS and every other business sorts out how best to continue operating under extenuating circumstances.  

Edited December 3, 2020 by jklcpa

[BulldogTom]

On 12/1/2020 at 4:56 AM, Possi said:

I miss everybody. Can't wait for COVID to have a vaccine and we can gather again. 

We need to get together at Rita's farm (or is it a cemetery?) again.   If TN EA Society has a seminar this summer, I can go back again.   That was fun meeting you all.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Catherine]

I'll second that!  Meeting all of you (the ones that made it there) at Rita's was great.

[TAXMAN]

I wonder when they will process the 2016 returns filed in March/April with c/o to 2017 of refunds. A couple of my TP's after filing 2017 got notices that their 2017 refund was incorrect along with a bill to pay. How to handle??????

[Max W]

3 hours ago, TAXMAN said:

I wonder when they will process the 2016 returns filed in March/April with c/o to 2017 of refunds. A couple of my TP's after filing 2017 got notices that their 2017 refund was incorrect along with a bill to pay. How to handle??????

Receiving an IRS bill to pay does not mean the account year is in collections.  When the client receives a CP504, Notice of Intent to Levy, that is a yellow warning light.  The next letter will be an LT11, FINAL Notice of intent to Levy.  There are 30 days to respond to this one before the IRS CAN levy/garnish wages, or bank accounts.

The designations CP504 and LT11 are found in the upper right corner of the letter.  The time gap between these is anywhere from 6 weeks to several months.  BTW, sometimes the IRS sends out a CP501, a CP503 and then the 504. 

If it were my client, I would just tell them to wait as the whole thing might be resolved before the Final Notice comes out.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

For the good news, one of our kids, in the health care field, will get a vaccine this month.  He has been living in a self imposed bubble, as he sees and deals with the death, and cannot bear the thought of bringing the virus to anyone outside the hospital.  I doubt he will pop his bubble, as he reminds us the vaccine has not been tested to see if it stops the recipient from spreading.  Many in the health care field are doing the same as he is.  What they are doing for the rest of us reminds me there is good in the world, even if we do not see it among the bad.  Yesterday, for instance, they had 200 staff out sick.  They have had over 200 staff test positive.  And this is in a major facility with the top safety protocols...  Remember, all the available bed count numbers have nothing to do with space available, it has everything to do with the number of staff who can strap up that shift.

As odd as it is to say, if those working at the IRS have to slow things down, so be it.  They have families too.  It is our responsibility to handle our "business".  If we get in a position of balance due, or balance owed, it was our own fault, and we should not complain at the consequences.

[JohnH]

I have one return that was paper filed back in February, yet the taxpayer has never heard a word about their small refund.  It was a young person, first-time filer, single, standard deduction, two W-2 forms.  They check the"Where's My Refund" tool at IRS.Gov regularly, but nothing has ever shown up there. 

On the other hand, my return which we paper filed on extension in early October with W2's, K1's, 1099R's, SocSec income, itemized deductions, and a balance due, has been processed. The electronic transcript is already available, including the calculation for a small penalty & interest. (Incidentally, for some reason our return also got flagged for identity verification and I received a Letter 4883C, but that's a separate story.) 

Both returns were filed at the same service center, (although mailed to different addresses due to refund vs balance due). I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps the better course of action may have been to send the return claiming a refund to the "Balance Due" mailing address. 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

14 hours ago, JohnH said:

I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps the better course of action may have been to send the return claiming a refund to the "Balance Due" mailing address. 

Cat out of the bag!  This is something I discovered years ago by accident.  I now always try to have a modest balance due.  Like any business, the IRS seems to process profitable envelopes first.

[Abby Normal]

16 hours ago, JohnH said:

send the return claiming a refund to the "Balance Due" mailing address. 

Isn't efiling the real better option?

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

I have a client who just sent me their info to complete 2018 1040.  She inquired as to when it would be completed, to which I reminded her of the million(s) of pieces of mail sitting in tractor trailers at the service centers.  She agreed that it will be best to wait until the January 2021 e-filing opens, especially since they expect a sizeable refund.  

[JohnH]

7 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

Isn't efiling the real better option?

For some people, yes.  

For me, no. 

[WITAXLADY]

I have some 2019's to be mailed and I will wait until Jan to e-file... rather than take the chance with mail. 2016 amends are being processed... Identity thefts mailed in are in "control' meaning someone has them - one in a few weeks and one says 180 days..

and the best part is I called Thurs and I had the option to leave my number and they called me back in less than 15 minutes!!

today - Fri I called at 5:30 and said sorry too busy - call another time