Jacobs presses IRS on tax return backlog

Press Release, Congressman Chris Jacobs

CLARENCE – Congressman Chris Jacobs (NY-27) sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Rettig on Tuesday calling for the IRS to address the backlog in amended tax returns and asking specific questions on operations.

“For months, my constituents have waited for their amended tax returns from IRS and have received no answers,” Jacobs said. “My constituents, and Americans around the nation, are anxiously awaiting their returns and are growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of action from the IRS. This is unacceptable and represents a massive dereliction of duty from the agency.”

In a letter from November, the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) reported the IRS had a backlog of over 2.7 million unprocessed amended returns. TAS also recently stopped accepting congressional inquiries from offices due to the high backlog. Currently, some NY-27 constituents are reporting delays of up to 30 weeks to receive their amended tax returns from the IRS.

“2021 tax season is rapidly approaching. This problem must be resolved by then, or millions of Americans face massive backlogs for their returns,” Jacobs said. “The IRS has been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to deny timely service to millions of Americans. It is far past time to drop that excuse and get back to work safely and efficiently as many other government agencies have been able to do – Americans are relying upon it.”