Treasury Department Issues Advance Warning About Filing Season

Last Monday, Treasury Department officials took the preemptive step of warning taxpayers that the upcoming tax season, which begins on Monday, January 24 and runs through April 18 (as of this writing), will be messy and could see delays. Pointing to staffing shortages and paperwork backlogs, officials said taxpayers will likely face frustrations similar to those of last year’s tax season. Potential problem areas include delays in the processing of refunds and returns as well as difficulty in reaching the IRS.

As of mid-November 2021, the IRS had a backlog of roughly 8.6 million returns left to process. In a separate statement, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said that the IRS is not able to provide the level of service taxpayers deserve and said that more resources for the agency are essential.

Please be kind to your tax professional during this time. Some things are outside of our control.