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Lawmakers Call for Taxpayer Relief Until Backlogs Are Handled

AUG. 15, 2022

Lawmakers Call for Taxpayer Relief Until Backlogs Are Handled

DATED AUG. 15, 2022
DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Menendez, Sen. Robert
    Cassidy, Sen. Bill
    Spanberger, Rep. Abigail Davis
    Fitzpatrick, Rep. Brian K.
    Baldwin, Sen. Tammy
    Blumenthal, Sen. Richard
    Burr, Sen. Richard
    Cardin, Sen. Benjamin L.
    Carper, Sen. Thomas R.
    Collins, Sen. Susan M.
    Coons, Sen. Christopher A.
    Duckworth, Sen. Tammy
    Feinstein, Sen. Dianne
    Gillibrand, Sen. Kirsten E.
    Hickenlooper, Sen. John W.
    Hirono, Sen. Mazie K.
    Kaine, Sen. Tim
    Kelly, Sen. Mark
    King, Sen. Angus S., Jr.
    Klobuchar, Sen. Amy
    Leahy, Sen. Patrick J.
    Lummis, Sen. Cynthia M.
    Manchin, Sen. Joe, III
    Markey, Sen. Edward J.
    Padilla, Sen. Alex
    Reed, Sen. Jack
    Rosen, Sen. Jacky
    Sanders, Sen. Bernie
    Schatz, Sen. Brian
    Shaheen, Sen. Jeanne
    Sinema, Sen. Kyrsten
    Smith, Sen. Tina
    Stabenow, Sen. Debbie
    Van Hollen, Sen. Chris
    Warner, Sen. Mark R.
    Warnock, Sen. Raphael G.
    Warren, Sen. Elizabeth A.
    Whitehouse, Sen. Sheldon
    Wyden, Sen. Ron
    Axne, Rep. Cynthia "Cindy"
    Bacon, Rep. Don
    Bass, Karen
    Beyer, Rep. Donald S., Jr.
    Bishop, Rep. Sanford D., Jr.
    Blumenauer, Rep. Earl
    Boyle, Rep. Brendan F.
    Brownley, Rep. Julia
    Cárdenas, Rep. Tony
    Cherfilus-McCormick, Rep. Shelia
    Chu, Rep. Judy
    Connolly, Rep. Gerald E.
    Correa, Rep. J. Luis
    Dean, Rep. Madeleine
    Espaillat, Rep. Adriano
    Flores, Rep. Mayra
    Gonzalez, Rep. Vicente
    Gottheimer, Rep. Josh
    Keating, Rep. William R.
    Keller, Rep. Fred
    Kim, Rep. Andy
    Kim, Rep. Young
    Lee, Rep. Susie
    Luria, Rep. Elaine G.
    Malinowski, Rep. Tom
    McCollum, Rep. Betty
    McEachin, Rep. A. Donald
    McHenry, Rep. Patrick T.
    Meuser, Rep. Daniel
    Morelle, Rep. Joseph D.
    Moulton, Rep. Seth
    Nadler, Rep. Jerrold
    Napolitano, Rep. Grace F.
    Norcross, Rep. Donald
    O'Halleran, Rep. Tom
    Panetta, Rep. Jimmy
    Payne, Rep. Donald M., Jr.
    Peters, Rep. Scott H.
    Pingree, Rep. Chellie
    Pocan, Rep. Mark William
    Porter, Rep. Katie
    Raskin, Rep. Jamie
    Ross, Rep. Deborah K.
    Roybal-Allard, Rep. Lucille
    Scott, Rep. David
    Scott, Rep. Robert C.
    Takano, Rep. Mark
    Titus, Rep. Dina
    Trone, Rep. David J.
    Wagner, Rep. Ann
    Weber, Rep. Randy K., Sr.
    Westerman, Rep. Bruce
    Wexton, Rep. Jennifer
    Williams, Rep. Nikema
  • Institutional Authors
    U.S. Senate
    U.S. House of Representatives
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Jurisdictions
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    2022-26742
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2022 TNTF 157-15

August 15, 2022

The Honorable Charles P. Rettig
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20224

Dear Commissioner Rettig:

Thank you for your continued work to eliminate the unprecedented backlog at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Since last year, numerous Members of Congress in the House and Senate have sent several letters regarding customer service issues, processing delays, and the outstanding backlog of returns. Several Members of Congress have urged you to provide penalty relief for taxpayers, have continually pressed the agency to pursue maximum overtime options for staff who are working on the backlog and on surge teams, and have asked the agency to deploy additional surge teams and other resources in an effective manner to reduce the backlog. Yet, we are writing again to urge the IRS to extend the suspension of automated collections, continue the pause on automated notices, keep its surge teams in place until hiring challenges and processing backlogs are adequately addressed.

In a Senate Finance Committee Hearing on April 7, 2022, you estimated that the IRS would return to a “healthy state” by the end of 2022 and that the IRS expected to hire 10,000 customer service representatives between this year and next year. Yet, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), the paper return backlog has actually increased by 1.3 million from the same point as last year and that the IRS was only able to meet 12 percent of its hiring goals for processing center employees earlier this year.1 NTA also noted that the IRS has not met its 5,000 employee hiring goal for submission processing positions — falling short by 3,417 employees, and that while historically the IRS has paid refunds from paper returns in four to six weeks, refunds are currently taking six months or longer.2

Accordingly, we believe that the IRS must take additional steps to improve customer service issues, decrease processing delays, and work-down the backlog of paper returns and correspondence by continuing the maximum use of overtime and surge teams, as well as the continued suspension of automated notices and collections — which have been critical in reducing pandemic-related tax return and correspondence backlogs. Additionally, the IRS must improve its recruitment and retention efforts to adequately address the backlog and increase levels of taxpayer service.

In order to gauge the extent of hiring and processing challenges still facing the Agency, we ask that you provide answers to the following questions no later than August 19, 2022:

Processing Backlogs:

1. How do you plan to keep your promise to eliminate the backlog?

2. What is a “healthy level” of unprocessed tax returns? How does this level align with average carryover levels, prior to the pandemic? Please provide the average carryover level over the ten years prior to FY2020, and the current carryover levels.

3. How would you quantify a “manageable” carryover level? How does this compare to average carryover levels prior to the pandemic? Please provide a breakdown of average carryover levels for accounts management, submission processing, and returns in suspense.

4. By how much do you estimate the carryover level will increase following the October 15, 2022 extension filing deadline?

5. Do you believe your answers to questions 2-4 call your end-of-year estimate for a “healthy” IRS into question?

6. For this filing season, what is the average refund delivery period? For comparison, please provide the average refund delivery period over the past ten years including the COVID-19 pandemic and excluding the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. How long will the surge teams continue? Will they continue through the end of the fiscal or calendar year, or beyond?

8. What effect does the use of surge teams to process the backlog have on the IRS' other activities, particularly answering phones?

9. What steps is the Agency taking to speed up its processing of tax returns? Please specifically note whether the agency prioritizes the processing of returns with refunds.

10. What is the status of IRS efforts to implement scanning technology, as recommended by the NTA?

Hiring Challenges:

11. How many contractors is the IRS currently utilizing? How do contractors factor into the IRS' stated hiring goals for submission processing and accounts management positions?

We appreciate your consideration of these requests and attention to these issues.

Sincerely,

Robert Menendez
United States Senator

Abigail Davis Spanberger
Member of Congress

Tammy Baldwin
United States Senator

Richard Burr
United States Senator

Thomas R. Carper
United States Senator

Bill Cassidy, M.D.
United States Senator

Brian Fitzpatrick
Member of Congress

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator

Benjamin L. Cardin
United States Senator

Susan M. Collins
United States Senator

Christopher A. Coons
United States Senator

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

John Hickenlooper
United States Senator

Tim Kaine
United States Senator

Angus S. King, Jr.
United States Senator

Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator

Mazie K. Hirono
United States Senator

Mark Kelly
United States Senator

Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator

Patrick Leahy
United States Senator

Joe Manchin III
United States Senator

Alex Padilla
United States Senator

Jacky Rosen
United States Senator

Brian Schatz
United States Senator

Cynthia M. Lummis
United States Senator

Edward J. Markey
United States Senator

Jack Reed
United States Senator

Bernard Sanders
United States Senator

Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator

Kyrsten Sinema
United States Senator

Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator

Mark R. Warner
United States Senator

Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator

Ron Wyden
United States Senator
Chairman, Committee on Finance

Tina Smith
United States Senator

Chris Van Hollen
United States Senator

Raphael G. Warnock
United States Senator

Sheldon Whitehouse
United States Senator

Cynthia Axne
Member of Congress

Don Bacon
Member of Congress

Donald S. Beyer Jr.
Member of Congress

Earl Blumenauer
Member of Congress

Julia Brownley
Member of Congress

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick
Member of Congress

Karen Bass
Member of Congress

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
Member of Congress

Brendan F. Boyle
Member of Congress

Tony Cárdenas
Member of Congress

Judy Chu
Member of Congress

Gerald E. Connolly
Member of Congress

Madeleine Dean
Member of Congress

Mayra Flores
Member of Congress

Josh Gottheimer
Member of Congress

Fred Keller
Member of Congress

J. Luis Correa
Member of Congress

Adriano Espaillat
Member of Congress

Vicente Gonzalez
Member of Congress

William R. Keating
Member of Congress

Andy Kim
Member of Congress

Young Kim
Member of Congress

Elaine G. Luria
Member of Congress

Betty McCollum
Member of Congress

Patrick T. McHenry
Member of Congress

Joseph D. Morelle
Member of Congress

Susie Lee
Member of Congress

Tom Malinowski
Member of Congress

A. Donald McEachin
Member of Congress

Daniel Meuser
Member of Congress

Seth Moulton
Member of Congress

Jerrold Nadler
Member of Congress

Donald Norcross
Member of Congress

Jimmy Panetta
Member of Congress

Scott H. Peters
Member of Congress

Mark Pocan
Member of Congress

Grace F. Napolitano
Member of Congress

Tom O'Halleran
Member of Congress

Donald M. Payne, Jr.
Member of Congress

Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress

Katie Porter
Member of Congress

Jamie Raskin
Member of Congress

Lucille Roybal-Allard
Member of Congress

Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
Member of Congress

Dina Titus
Member of Congress

Ann Wagner
Member of Congress

Deborah K. Ross
Member of Congress

David Scott
Member of Congress

Mark Takano
Member of Congress

David J. Trone
Member of Congress

Randy K. Weber, Sr.
Member of Congress

Bruce Westerman
Member of Congress

Nikema Williams
Member of Congress

Jennifer Wexton
Member of Congress

FOOTNOTES

1See NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE, OBJECTIVES REPORT TO CONGRESS (June 2022) at v, https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2023-objectives-report-to-congress/full-report/ (“For the week ending May 22, 2021, the backlog of unprocessed paper returns stood at 20 million. At the end of May this year, the backlog had increased to 21.3 million.”).

2Id. at iv.

END FOOTNOTES

DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Menendez, Sen. Robert
    Cassidy, Sen. Bill
    Spanberger, Rep. Abigail Davis
    Fitzpatrick, Rep. Brian K.
    Baldwin, Sen. Tammy
    Blumenthal, Sen. Richard
    Burr, Sen. Richard
    Cardin, Sen. Benjamin L.
    Carper, Sen. Thomas R.
    Collins, Sen. Susan M.
    Coons, Sen. Christopher A.
    Duckworth, Sen. Tammy
    Feinstein, Sen. Dianne
    Gillibrand, Sen. Kirsten E.
    Hickenlooper, Sen. John W.
    Hirono, Sen. Mazie K.
    Kaine, Sen. Tim
    Kelly, Sen. Mark
    King, Sen. Angus S., Jr.
    Klobuchar, Sen. Amy
    Leahy, Sen. Patrick J.
    Lummis, Sen. Cynthia M.
    Manchin, Sen. Joe, III
    Markey, Sen. Edward J.
    Padilla, Sen. Alex
    Reed, Sen. Jack
    Rosen, Sen. Jacky
    Sanders, Sen. Bernie
    Schatz, Sen. Brian
    Shaheen, Sen. Jeanne
    Sinema, Sen. Kyrsten
    Smith, Sen. Tina
    Stabenow, Sen. Debbie
    Van Hollen, Sen. Chris
    Warner, Sen. Mark R.
    Warnock, Sen. Raphael G.
    Warren, Sen. Elizabeth A.
    Whitehouse, Sen. Sheldon
    Wyden, Sen. Ron
    Axne, Rep. Cynthia "Cindy"
    Bacon, Rep. Don
    Bass, Karen
    Beyer, Rep. Donald S., Jr.
    Bishop, Rep. Sanford D., Jr.
    Blumenauer, Rep. Earl
    Boyle, Rep. Brendan F.
    Brownley, Rep. Julia
    Cárdenas, Rep. Tony
    Cherfilus-McCormick, Rep. Shelia
    Chu, Rep. Judy
    Connolly, Rep. Gerald E.
    Correa, Rep. J. Luis
    Dean, Rep. Madeleine
    Espaillat, Rep. Adriano
    Flores, Rep. Mayra
    Gonzalez, Rep. Vicente
    Gottheimer, Rep. Josh
    Keating, Rep. William R.
    Keller, Rep. Fred
    Kim, Rep. Andy
    Kim, Rep. Young
    Lee, Rep. Susie
    Luria, Rep. Elaine G.
    Malinowski, Rep. Tom
    McCollum, Rep. Betty
    McEachin, Rep. A. Donald
    McHenry, Rep. Patrick T.
    Meuser, Rep. Daniel
    Morelle, Rep. Joseph D.
    Moulton, Rep. Seth
    Nadler, Rep. Jerrold
    Napolitano, Rep. Grace F.
    Norcross, Rep. Donald
    O'Halleran, Rep. Tom
    Panetta, Rep. Jimmy
    Payne, Rep. Donald M., Jr.
    Peters, Rep. Scott H.
    Pingree, Rep. Chellie
    Pocan, Rep. Mark William
    Porter, Rep. Katie
    Raskin, Rep. Jamie
    Ross, Rep. Deborah K.
    Roybal-Allard, Rep. Lucille
    Scott, Rep. David
    Scott, Rep. Robert C.
    Takano, Rep. Mark
    Titus, Rep. Dina
    Trone, Rep. David J.
    Wagner, Rep. Ann
    Weber, Rep. Randy K., Sr.
    Westerman, Rep. Bruce
    Wexton, Rep. Jennifer
    Williams, Rep. Nikema
  • Institutional Authors
    U.S. Senate
    U.S. House of Representatives
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Jurisdictions
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    2022-26742
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2022 TNTF 157-15
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