Irs Sent Me a Letter Saying Request for Back Taxes Under Review 90 Days

Christanine Brodis gathered her tax paperwork in February including a 1099-G for state unemployment compensation and a W2-Yard for some gambling winnings at MGM Grand Detroit, the simply brilliant spot in a coin-losing 2020. Just she'due south looking at taxable income now.

Brodis, 48, sent her forms to a taxation preparer by encrypted email, talked on the phone in her living room on a common cold Saturday forenoon and had her 1040 prepared remotely as office of COVID-nineteen precautions taken now through the Accounting Aid Society in metro Detroit.

Now she waits and wonders.

The Detroiter, who has been out of work during the pandemic, is expecting a revenue enhancement refund of more than than $iv,500 for 2020 via straight eolith.

She'south hoping she'll see that money sooner than an anticipated refund for her 2019 income tax return, which is still hanging in limbo somewhere.

"It's been over a year now," Brodis said. "They accepted my taxes last year on February. 7. Information technology doesn't seem similar information technology should go that slowly, but there's zip I can do to speed it up."

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the tax season upside down terminal yr, and even at present millions of people are still dealing with the aftermath in 2021.

The Internal Revenue Service said in mid-Feb that it had yet to process six.7 million private income taxation returns for 2019, based on data through Jan. thirty.

Getting those returns processed — and any refunds involved in hand — may require boosted review, dealing with corrections and addressing some ID theft-related issues where the IRS volition demand to work with taxpayers, according to the IRS.

Most 2019 federal income tax returns have been candy. But the lingering problems are pregnant, plenty that the Firm Ways and Means Committee is asking the IRS for answers and calling for the IRS to extend the tax return deadline for 2020 tax returns across Apr 15.

"One twelvemonth later on, another unique filing season is underway, and many of these aforementioned pandemic-related difficulties and challenges persist for taxpayers, practitioners, and the IRS," according to a letter dated Feb. xviii signed by U.S.  Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-New Bailiwick of jersey, the chairman of the Business firm Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight and others on the subcommittee. The letter was addressed to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

Nobody ever wants to await upwardly to a twelvemonth for a federal income tax refund. It's money that many people often use to encompass holiday bills, winter utilities and fifty-fifty going to the doctor after delaying visits because they don't have the coin.

But the backdrop of economic dubiousness surrounding the pandemic makes things even more troublesome for those who lost a job and had expected extra taxation refund greenbacks many months ago.

Some who faced headaches with those revenue enhancement refunds said they had trouble getting their stimulus cash, too.

Errant revenue enhancement notices trigger frustration

The confusion has connected into 2021. In early February, the IRS sent out notices to about 260,000 taxpayers nationwide that claimed that the people had non notwithstanding filed their 2019 taxation return.

One small problem? Many of those taxpayers did file their 2019 tax returns promptly last twelvemonth, simply the IRS has not yet processed them.

Oops. Later, the IRS issued a argument that essentially said don't panic or reply to the CP59 detect, if you did file a 2019 render.

"Due to pandemic-related shutdowns, the IRS has not completed processing all 2019 returns at this time," the IRS noted in its statement.

"Therefore, the CP59 notices should not have been sent because some portion of the recipients may actually have filed a render that is still being processed."

"There is no demand to call or reply to the CP59 detect considering the IRS continues to process 2019 tax returns every bit quickly as possible. The IRS regrets whatever confusion caused by this mailing."

Naturally, many taxpayers who received these notices were nervous, according to Lori Moore, principal in the wealth direction taxation department for Plante Moran in Southfield.

Her clients, she said, knew they filed a 2019 federal income revenue enhancement render terminal year back in April or earlier, and then information technology was unsettling to hear otherwise.

Moore said the notices are automatically generated by the IRS systems, but taxpayers would want to consult with their taxation advisers to confirm whether their discover was sent in error, as many returns were sent but not processed.

"They're in the IRS system in some style, shape or course," Moore said.

COVID-19 sent IRS agents home

The IRS, like many businesses, had to quickly figure out ways to work remotely during the pandemic. Simply many things didn't become very smoothly.

"I practise call up COVID-19 has had a huge touch on 2019 returns," Moore said.

IRS processing centers shut downwardly early in the pandemic last year. Piles of paperwork sabbatum untouched for months in truck trailers. The IRS terminal year acknowledged delays involving the filing of newspaper returns as a result of what it calls "COVID-nineteen mail processing delays."

The delays aren't only limited to paper returns, though, as taxation preparers and taxpayers told the Gratis Press that they e-filed and still couldn't get their situations resolved last year, either.

Some who filed electronically voiced frustration almost their missing tax refunds from their 2019 tax returns, too.

Fifty-fifty CPAs see trouble

"They're calling, like 'Hey, can you lot check on the status of my refund?' " said Antonio Brown, a CPA in Flint whose firm prepares virtually 300 tax returns a year.

Brownish, who is chief executive officer of John L Financial Services, said 1 client is due a federal income tax refund for the 2019 return of around $two,300 and another married couple is waiting for nigh $6,500 in a federal income revenue enhancement refund.

"I've never experienced someone waiting x to eleven months for a refund from the IRS, and I've been doing this for a while," said Brown, who has been preparing taxes for 16 years and is a fellow member of the Michigan Association of CPAs.

The taxpayer who was owed $2,300 had e-filed but later received a letter in November requesting that he authenticate his identity, Dark-brown said.

The information was sent merely still no refund by mid-February.

The married couple owed virtually $half-dozen,500; both work — he is self-employed and she has a job with a W-ii — and have taxes withheld from their paychecks. They filed by paper because of an earlier result, simply the IRS claimed a while back to accept never received their taxation return. Some other return had to be filed. Still no refund money.

In some cases, Brown said, people aren't finding the information they need when they become online to IRS.gov and effort to check the status of their refund online.

"The IRS website will say (the) return is in procedure," Dark-brown said, "but it's been in process for months."

People might look an eight-calendar week to 12-week delay relating to a refund when there is an issue, only going on months on stop is highly unusual, he said.

"It'southward unfortunate. It's a tough thing for the American people. You tell them to file timely. Yous tell them to foursquare upwardly with the IRS."

Notwithstanding, he said, coin isn't arriving promptly when it's time for the federal regime to pay that refund.

Last Baronial, the IRS announced that interest payments were being made to 13.9 million taxpayers who experienced unusual delays in receiving their tax refunds in 2020.

The interest applied to those who filed a 2019 return by the July 15 deadline last year and either received a belatedly refund or would receive a refund in the future, according to the IRS.

Mail delays, fraud alerts ho-hum things down

"We're just seeing delays across the board with the IRS," said Lisa Pohl, principal and director for state and local tax for Rehmann in Grand Rapids.

If, for example, the IRS sends a observe on a affair, she said, it could take 60 days to 90 days longer than usual now to go a matter resolved.

"Everything is delayed," Pohl said.

She speculated that the IRS seems to have shifted some of its resource last year to working with employers who needed to file amended returns to take advantage of some new coronavirus-relief rules that could put more than cash into the employers' hands. Such efforts, she said, might have diverted resource that normally could have helped some individuals.

More than:You may receive a check for $5 or less from U.s.a. Treasury — and hither's why

More:Tax flavor 2021: How to get a bigger, quicker tax refund

More:IRS to starting time processing 2020 revenue enhancement returns Friday: What to know before you file

Postal service delays in general did not help speed things up.

Matt Hetherwick, the director of individual taxation programs for the Bookkeeping Aid Society in Detroit, said all of the initial correspondence by the IRS to taxpayers is through the U.S. Postal service. In improver, the taxpayer responds to those notices by mail.

Delays in processing taxation returns were exacerbated to some degree, Hetherwick said, past the delays with the U.Southward. Postal Service.

He noted that the IRS's fraud detection filters were flagging returns that required written correspondence, too.

"These letters that the IRS sends out can exist for many reasons, but oftentimes can exist simply for verification of sure things such as identity (18%) or accuracy of information (i.eastward. income verification 25%) included in the tax return," he said.

"Although frustrating to the taxpayer, this is washed to protect u.s. all from individuals perpetrating fraud. These fraud filters were delaying refunds for up to 120 days from resolution," Hetherwick said.

"Additionally," he said, "the IRS has indicated to united states of america several times that they are unable to manage the phone call volume that they are receiving regarding tax returns and the Economic Impact Payments."

Many of these problems started a year ago when the IRS needed to put the social distancing measures in place to deal with the pandemic.

Where are IRS workers at present?

The IRS function that worked with some taxpayers by engagement in Detroit was closed almost an entire year, from March 2020 through February. 1, 2021, because of COVID-19 restrictions. But the Detroit office is now open up and taxpayers can call 844-545-5640 to make an appointment.

Some Michigan offices, like Chiliad Rapids and Traverse City, are open up by engagement.

Merely elsewhere, other Taxpayer Assistance Centers remain closed. The IRS's Michigan offices in Flint, Marquette and Saginaw remained shut as of Feb. 24. The IRS said more offices will open up when resources are available and restrictions lift.  See IRS.gov/help/contact-my-local-role-in-Michigan for information.

Taxpayers who continue to wait for refunds and face other headaches also can reach out to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent arrangement within the IRS that helps taxpayers with problems they tin't resolve with the IRS.

"We are operating in the most efficient manner possible considering the health of the public, our employees and the resources we have," said Luis Garcia, an IRS spokesperson in Detroit.

Currently, the IRS has 1,257 employees in Michigan and last year at this time there were i,229 employees.

"Using a broad range of precautions," Garcia said, "we have safely brought employees back to exercise mission-disquisitional piece of work where people must be physically in the building."

The IRS stated online as of Feb. 19 that its operations are open to procedure mail, revenue enhancement returns, payments, refunds and correspondence.

Notwithstanding, the IRS stated that COVID-xix continues to crusade delays in some services, including alive telephone back up, processing tax returns filed on newspaper, answering mail from taxpayers and reviewing tax returns, even for returns filed electronically.

The IRS said online: "We're processing all responses in the order nosotros received them. While we are opening mail service within our normal time frame, processing these responses is taking longer than usual due to social distancing and resources restrictions."

Garcia said the IRS has hired new employees simply right now its capacity for return processing operations is mostly dictated past COVID-19 restrictions.

As of Jan. 30, the IRS has about 65,000 IRS employees that were teleworking either office of the time or total time.

About 27,500 IRS employees are reporting to an IRS facility either part time or full time.  About 40% of that group — eleven,000 workers — are assigned to processing centers, with 64% of those in office either part fourth dimension or full fourth dimension.

"In recent months, we have continued to resume our important operations in our facilities while still maintaining maximum telework wherever possible," Garcia said.

Late last month, he said, the IRS began recalling employees who take nonportable work and have previously been eligible for weather and safety leave since March 2020.

"The vast majority of these employees piece of work in our campus facilities," he said.

"The conclusion to recall these nontelework employees was made after extensive discussions on the need to balance serving taxpayers and ensuring employees' rubber in the workplace."

He continued: "All IRS offices have condom measures in place, and we are following CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect socially distanced IRS-occupied space. Employees entering IRS facilities must self-assess daily to help keep everyone condom, and wear face coverings when in IRS workspaces."

The IRS is providing much information to taxpayers online. Information technology has indicated: "In one case you've answered the notice, you don't need to answer it again. We're working through all taxpayer replies on a get-go-come, first-served basis and will process your reply as of the date it was received. We appreciate your patience."

'I still don't have my money'

Patience is something many people ran brusk of long ago at present that they've been waiting roughly a year for sizable sums of coin.

Brodis isn't sympathetic to the IRS's issues. She's frustrated that she doesn't have the money she needs to pay her bills, such as what turned out to be a loftier-toll financing system taken out to comprehend a car repair.

Brodis, who claims the Earned Income Tax Credit for depression- to moderate-income families, had expected a refund of more than $3,600 concluding year. She said she filed her 2019 income tax return via TurboTax.

She likewise anticipated receiving the first stimulus of $1,200 terminal year and another $600 this year, but she didn't become those stimulus checks, either. She now had to apply for stimulus cash on her 2020 tax return.

In the autumn, the IRS sent her a letter that asked her to prove that her daughter, who is xviii and on the autism spectrum, lived with her all of 2019. She said she received a confirmation in February that the IRS received her paperwork in December.

Brodis fifty-fifty had the postal service attempt to confirm that that IRS received that information and they couldn't confirm it before.

Experts say it could take the IRS a few months to deal with such correspondence, given the backlog.

"I got all that data immediately to them — and I notwithstanding don't have all my coin," said Brodis, who lost her job as a caregiver in July 2019. She was unable to find work afterward the pandemic hit.

"She lived with me all 18 years of her life, every day of her life," Brodis said.

"I've called the IRS, but they're giving me the runaround."

Brodis is at present receiving tax resolution help through the Accounting Assistance Society's Low Income Revenue enhancement Clinic.

By filing a 2020 federal income tax return, she claimed the Recovery Rebate Credit for the two missing stimulus payments.

She too claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit, based on her 2019 earned income, thanks to a modify in the rules that reflects ongoing unemployment for many lower-income workers during the pandemic.

The IRS noted online this yr that the EITC refund can be expected "every bit soon as the first week of March if you file your render online, you choose to get your refund past direct deposit and we found no issues with your render."

This year, she said, her estimated tax refund includes the $1,800 in stimulus coin. The 2020 refund is smaller than she expected, as she owes federal and state income taxes on the unemployment benefits she received in 2020, as well as taxes on her gambling winnings of $1,513.

More:New rule helps those who lost jobs in 2020 authorize for primal tax credits

IRS is working to resolve issues

While many tax professionals say 2020 tax headaches go on to get resolved, others say they're still hearing from unhappy customers who are wondering why they're non seeing their tax refund money.

The IRS has caught upward on the mail, but must deal with other issues that need clarification on individual returns, according to Ken Corbin, the new IRS master taxpayer experience officer, a newly created position that is designed to better help the agency address taxpayer bug. Corbin also serves equally commissioner for the IRS wage and investment partitioning.

"Sometimes, there's a math or consistency error or something doesn't quite match our records," Corbin told the Free Press and other journalists in a phone conference.

"And nosotros take a need to correspond with the taxpayer, either to go a missing schedule; get a corrected SSN, maybe for a dependent; get some data to help clarify that return so we can complete this processing," Corbin said in that media telephone call on Feb. xi.

"Those returns really are waiting on us to get data or work with taxpayers so we can resolve that issue," he said.

When those 2019 returns are processed, he said, taxpayers would receive any refund owed equally a newspaper check in the mail.

Taxpayers are encouraged to continue to check "Where'south My Refund?" at IRS.gov for their personalized refund status. But the site also notes some issues, such as a filibuster in some updates.

How long many people may have to wait for their 2019 tax refunds remains unknown.

"We are processing returns nosotros received over the summer due to the extended July 15 tax filing due appointment," Garcia said.

"We are rerouting tax returns and taxpayer correspondence from locations that are behind to locations where more than staff is available, and nosotros are taking other actions to minimize whatsoever delays."

He noted that tax returns are opened in the order received.

"Every bit the return is processed, it may be delayed because it has a mistake, is missing information, or in that location is suspected identity theft or fraud. If nosotros can fix it without contacting yous, we volition," he said.

"If we need more information or need you to verify that it was you who sent the tax return, we will write y'all a letter. The resolution of these issues depends on how quickly and accurately you answer, and the IRS staff trained and working under social distancing requirements to complete the processing of your render."

When it comes to filing for tax twelvemonth 2020, Corbin said, the IRS doesn't conceptualize that this will cause a pregnant filibuster to the processing of those returns.

"The vast majority of returns that are filed become correct through," he said.

The IRS is encouraging taxpayers to file their 2020 revenue enhancement returns electronically and opt to have a tax refund straight deposited into a bank business relationship to receive a tax refund as quickly as possible. About 90% of federal income taxation returns are filed electronically.

Taxpayers once had to file paper returns when an amended return — or 1040-Ten — had to be submitted by mail service to the IRS, but the IRS has started accepting some amended 2019 tax returns electronically final yr, starting in August 2020.

Someone yet may demand to file a newspaper return if y'all're married and you're seeking relief equally an injured spouse — say your spouse owes past-due taxes or a belatedly child support payment. You lot might request injured spouse relief to hold onto your share of your income tax refund, while your spouse's share would go directly toward paying past debt.

And yous could need to file a paper render if the IRS rejects your eastward-filed return because someone else already filed a tax return ahead of you and used your Social Security number or a Social Security number of a dependent.

"Anything that has to be completed by paper is just going to accept more time," warned Plante Moran'south Moore.

Experts advise that people first talking to their taxation professionals and working on trying to file their tax returns as early as possible, instead of waiting until the terminal minute. Fifty-fifty if your 2019 tax return wasn't processed yet, experts say, you need to work on the 2020 return.

"They should motion forward equally if it was a 'normal year,' " said Pohl of Rehmann.

If necessary, she said, a taxpayer can asking an extension by filing a Form 4868 if they don't have all the necessary or correct information by April 15. But working early on the return would give you a meliorate handle on how much coin you might owe. Filing for an extension doesn't extend the fourth dimension for paying your taxes.

Could last year's revenue enhancement woes bear upon how well the IRS does this year?

Tax professionals said it'south not out of the question.

If the IRS is even so behind on 2019 returns, experts said, it'due south logical that they're going to stay behind as they receive 2020 tax returns through the April 15 taxation deadline.

Contact Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com . Follow her on Twitter @ tompor . To subscribe, please go to freep.com/specialoffer. Read more than on business and sign upwards for our business concern newsletter.

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Source: https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2021/02/24/irs-tax-refund-delays-2020/6702953002/

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