About 1 million Americans have not yet received a tax refund: what happened

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has about 1 million more tax returns to process. A similar delay caused by the crisis and teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Writes about it Fox Business.

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As of Nov. 20, the IRS had processed about 162,4 million of the 168,6 million returns it had received. At the same time last year, the department processed almost all of the reports it received—about 155 million of the 155,4 million.

“We did everything we could,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said. “On behalf of the IRS and each employee, we appreciate your patience and understanding.” This is no excuse, but I will say that our employees have been through the same thing as every other American during COVID-19.”

While the deferral is potentially inconvenient for Americans who are still going through the financial crisis, the IRS pays interest on late returns.

On the subject: What to do if you receive a letter from the IRS threatening to confiscate funds

According to the IRS, taxpayers with a filing date between April 15 and June 30 receive an annual interest rate of 5%, while applications for refunds received between July 1 and September 30 have an annual interest rate of 3%. the rate of XNUMX%. Just as an agency charges interest when taxpayers do not pay on time, the IRS also pays interest to taxpayers when the government refunds too slowly.

The decision is related to the peculiarities of the tax code and the method of extending the deadline for submission of documents.

In March, the Treasury Department extended its tax filing deadline from April 15 to July 15 amid a pandemic that caused the nation's worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

During this time, the agency continued to process electronic declarations and issue refunds through direct deposits.

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But when most IRS employees began working remotely in mid-March, it brought many of the agency's typical functions to a grinding halt and created a huge backlog. At one point, the overflow was so bad that the IRS had to rent tractor-trailers and separate storage facilities to store documents until workers could come back and start sorting them out, said Nina Oldson, director of the Taxpayer Rights Center.

A further complication was the distribution of tens of millions of financial aid checks in connection with the coronavirus. Rettig said the IRS has contacted 4000 homeless shelters to ensure that the people living in them receive the money.

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