What to Expect Starting January 24

             We now know that the filing season for 2022 will officially start in less than 2 weeks. What can we expect? We should be prepared for many challenges and frustrations, delays and difficulties. Why?

          For one reason, it is no secret that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has had customer service issues and shortages for years. For example, last tax season the IRS was only able to answer about 10% of phone calls. That is not expected to improve. In fact, things can get worse due to budget cuts related to the current pandemic. They are also still to trying deal with some requirements like processing Economic Impact Payments (EIP) and advanced child tax credits.

          As of November, the IRS still had almost 9 million tax returns left to process. That backlog is far greater than a normal year. It usually takes 3 weeks to process them. However, returns that are claiming credits must be held until mid-February before they are released. In addition, Taxpayers who have not received all of their EIP can claim this on their tax return. The IRS is learning many new things, very quickly this year.

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