IRS Plans to Modernize “Where’s My Refund” Assistance Tool After GAO Probe
To coincide with Tax Day, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report examining challenges faced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during the 2021 tax filing season. On Monday, the congressional watchdog argued that the agency’s issues stem primarily from a massive backlog of tax returns dating back to the 2020 tax filing season and unsatisfactory customer service.
Commissioner Chuck Rettig stated recently the agency aimed to onboard 5,000 employees within the year under an expedited hiring authority to address the backlog. In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Commissioner Rettig noted that the IRS had sent out 2,200 offer letters to perspective employees. To improve customer service, the IRS announced that it would improve its “Where's My Refund” tool by executing a modernization plan developed in collaboration with the Treasury Department, provided funding is available.
GAO recommended the effort after it found the tool was not a funding priority for the agency despite the tool’s widespread use among the public.
The “Where's My Refund” tool has been available since 2002 and was last updated in 2013. Currently, the tool notifies users of their return's receipt and authorization, sometimes with the dollar amount and any corrections. Generally, it takes one to two weeks between return receipt and refund approval. The tool does not notify a user when an error forces a manual review, although 35 million cases required manual review during the 2021 filing season.
Without communication regarding manual reviews, an unprecedented level of taxpayers called the IRS for information about their return or in some cases, filed a second return. Taxpayer correspondence with the agency tripled between 2019 and 2022 to 5.9 million.
In response to the report, the IRS explained that continuing resolutions halt modernization initiatives.
“It is important to note however that when we are operating during periods of continuing budget resolutions, funding requests for new work are held in abeyance until our annual appropriations have been enacted and the amounts available are certain. Operating during periods of continuing resolutions can therefore impact the timeline for implementing improvements and upgrades to our systems,” the agency wrote.
In fact, the IRS backlog stems beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and came to fruition during the 2018 government shutdown that lasted 35 days.
