As the Internal Revenue Service digs out from an historic backlog of personal income tax returns, they also face a massive backlog in the paper business tax category.
The coronavirus pandemic created a backlog of nearly 8 million paper-filed business tax returns at the end of 2020, according to a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
It’s the latest piece of bad news for the IRS as it tries to keep up with incredible demand associated with stimulus and child tax credit payments, as well as processing tens of millions of tax returns – both personal and business.
The astonishing increase in backlogged business tax returns represented a 3,230% increase over 2019. The issue? The massive changes that were brought into the mix during the peak of the pandemic in 2020 as economic lockdown forced businesses to shutter as a public health crisis unfolded.
Millions still waiting for tax refunds as IRS backlog grows due to pandemic
However, unlike personal income tax returns – the IRS is making progress with the paper filed business tax returns. As of late-summer, the agency had reduced the backlog to a little less than 300,000. However, there’s no confirmation on that figure at this point.
“We took, and continue to take, innovative actions to address the accumulation of inventory while simultaneously protecting the health and safety of our employees and the taxpaying public,” Kenneth Corbin, commissioner of the IRS wage and investment division said.
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