Simplify Tax Code to Solve IRS Mess

Chris EdwardsThe filing deadline for federal income taxes this year is April 18. Hopefully, your return is straightforward and you won ’t need help from the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency has been plagued by awful phone service, piles of unopened mail, backlogged return processing, and rising numbers of taxpayer disputes, asdescribed in a recent report by the Taxpayer Advocate.The Government Accountability Office has releaseda new report highlighting the IRS ’s troubles during last year’s filing season:More than 10 million returns had still not been processed by the end of the year. [p. 11]The number of returns held for errors soared to 35 million, 86 percent more than normal. [p. 12] Most of the errors stemmed from breaks and subsidies, including child credits, recovery rebate credits, and earned income credits. [p. 13]The IRS is incurring soaring interest costs because of its backlogged processing. [p. 21]Phone calls to the IRS skyrocketed to 195 million, up from 39 million in 2019. [p. 27]The IRS answered just 15 percent of taxpayer phone calls. [p. 27]. An incredible 160 million people called but could not get through. [p. 28]The inventory of unanswered taxpayer ‐​written queries has soared. [p. 27]Finally, “taxpayers experienced a maelstrom of confusion when seeking assistance on their delayed refunds. ” [p. 54]The pandemic can be blamed for some of this, and the IRS blamed for poor management and antiquated computer systems. But th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs