A short YouTube commentary (May 30, 2022) by Donna Bordeaux (Calculated Moves) about the persistent IRS backlog. She reports that the IRS had 4.7 million unprocessed returns at the end of the previous year and about 4.5 million as of March 12 (noting additional filings likely added after the March deadlines), and over 7.6 million correspondence cases. She says the IRS is answering roughly 6% of calls, shares a personal long-delay anecdote, and gives practical advice: e-file where possible, send correspondence via certified mail, and try calling at 7:00 AM Eastern to reach phone lines.
Questions this video answers
May 30, 2022.
4.7 million returns.
4.5 million returns.
Over 7.6 million cases of correspondence.
About 6% of calls.
Chapters
The IRS backlog problem is a serious one at this part, and it's almost becoming a joke. The commissioner came in at the beginning of the year and said that the backlog will be cleared by the end of 2022. Well, let's check in on the status of that right now. So as of the end of last year, the IRS had 4.7 million returns that were waiting to be worked. And now as of March 12, how many do they have? 4.5 million. At this pace, we're going to be 20 years in before they clear the backlog. Also on March 12, that was before the corporate filing deadline and the individual tax deadline for 2021. And there had to be way more added to that after those deadlines. So March 12th was probably trying to take a look at this at an opportune moment. I think the curve has switched now to where there are more unprocessed returns right now. Thank you. Than there were at the end of last year. That has to be the case. They have correspondence of over 7.6 million cases. So if you have written a letter to the irs, if you're waiting on them to process a return, I suggest patients. But I know that's not a real answer to the problem. But we're all just going to have to sit back and wait. It's very frustrating. I myself have a personal return that I have submitted correspondence on, and it has been a year and a half. Every so often I get a letter and I'm checking transcripts regularly and it has still not been resolved. One of the things people ask me is how can I get through? Is there a special number I can call the irs? Is there some secret, secret thing I can do? Nope. Answer is no. The IRS is answering only about 6% of their calls right now from what I hear. So if you are going to make an effort to call, my suggestion would be to call at 7am if you're on Eastern time to try to get through when the lines first open. Other than that, I don't know what to suggest. I don't even have an answer. We've never seen anything like this. But what I do suggest is let's try to avoid having to have the IRS add to the pile of correspondence and unprocessed returns whenever possible. So please remember, let's e file our returns. We do that as much as we can. The only time we ever pay for file a return is is if we can't e file for some known or unknown reason. So if you have correspondence to send to the irs. I suggest highly that you do that via certified mail so that you have proof of making your case. Things tend to get lost in a pile of 7.6 million cases, so let's not have yours do that. If you're waiting again, it's going to be a long while, so let's sit back and enjoy the ride for a while. Nothing we can do but laugh. I'm Donna Bordeaux from Calculated Moves. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Make sure you check out our blog and our website from the link below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when we post. To contact me, email me@donnaalculatedmoves.com.
