If Your Refund Has Been Delayed, Here Are a Couple Reasons Why

The IRS has been having some difficulty processing tax returns this year.

This may result in potential delays for many Americans.

Challenges include out-of-order copiers and printers. According to reports, 69 out of 164 devices used by the submission processing functions were not usable as of March 30, 2021.

Reports also noted a substantial backlog from last year, a late start to the filing season, and a shortage of staffers are all contributing factors to a slow pace from the IRS.

"IRS employees stated that the only reason they could not use many of these devices is because they are out of ink or because the waste cartridge container is full," the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration wrote about the copiers and printers in a report released on Friday. "The contract for supplies and service of the printers ended in September 2020."

As of March 5, 2021, the IRS issued 36 million tax refunds, only about 32% from this same time last year.

Late start to the filing season

The filing season for this year opened on February 12, which is considerably late compared with previous years. The IRS is still closing 2019 tax returns and experiencing a lack of staff. By the end of December 2020, the IRS had a backlog of 11.7 million paper returns, for both businesses and individuals, that still needed to be processed. This backlog is nearly 20 times higher than that at the end of 2019.

Though the IRS increased its hiring goals for the 2021 fiscal year, the agency has been unable to hire as many employees as needed. The agency has met 37% of its staffing goal, with too few applicants and processing issues that also delayed the hiring process.

Unanswered calls

Taxpayers inquiring about their unprocessed returns are experiencing issues contacting the understaffed IRS. Reports state that the IRS telephone representatives answered 4.4 million calls out of 46.3 million total attempts made by taxpayers to contact the IRS.

May 17, 2021 marks the end of the tax filing season. If you require assistance or are curious about the current status of your taxes, contact Zen Wealth Management Group.