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Senator Seeks Explanation for IRS Payment Delays

Posted on Feb. 10, 2021

Delays at IRS processing centers are preventing taxpayers from receiving their economic impact payments and tax refunds, according to Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.

In a February 8 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Warner asked how far along the agency is in sorting out its well-documented backlog of paper tax returns.

“I write today to express my concern with the alarming number of my constituents who have not received their long-awaited tax refund or second economic impact payment (EIP),” Warner said.

Although Warner acknowledges that the IRS has been inundated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the situation is especially concerning because the next tax return filing season opens February 12, and another round of EIPs is just around the corner.

Democrats are working on a $1.9 trillion relief package that would provide $1,400 payments to qualifying individuals making less than $75,000 per year or married couples earning up to $150,000.

Warner requested details on how many payments have been delivered and how the IRS is preparing for the 2021 filing season.

Rettig was called before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee on November 20, 2020, to discuss the delays at the IRS amid bipartisan concern over missing tax returns and EIPs as Americans struggle during the pandemic.

Warner said Rettig told him that on November 7, 2020, there were 6.8 million individual paper returns at IRS processing centers, including 1.6 million tax returns.

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