WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service "struggled to respond to an unprecedented workload" last year and "as a result, millions of taxpayers experienced long delays in receiving refunds," according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Lawmakers are concerned.
"The agency has the same number of employees as it did in 1970, when the country's population and the economy were a fraction of the size they are today," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D -Oregon.)
At the end of the 2021 tax filing season in December, the IRS still had about 10.5 million returns to process.
Electronically-filed returns can be processed in 21 days. Paper-filed returns can take up to ten months.
"Delays cause hardship for taxpayers and can also cost the government money. In the last seven years, the IRS has paid almost 14 billion in interest on refunds," said Jessica Lucas-Judy, a director in GAO's strategic issues team.
Erin Collins, National Taxpayer Advocate at the Internal Revenue Service, said the IRS has faced a variety of obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the agency's ability to do its job.
"This past year was the most challenging year that taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced," she said. "Millions of taxpayers are confused. They're frustrated, and they're still waiting for their refunds from the last filing season."
On customer service, only 11% of the 195 million people who called the IRS for help last year managed to speak to a human being, and the average wait time for a phone call was 28 minutes.
According to the GAO, the IRS hired 3,800 new staff to answer the calls, but not in time to do so during the busiest part of tax season.
Still, the agency's leader maintains his people are trying.
"The employees of the IRS, including myself, but specifically our employees are doing the best we can," said Charles Rettig, IRS Commissioner. "We may not always have gotten it right, but we tried our best."
The GAO is making six recommendations, including that the IRS assess the reasons for tax return errors, refund interest payments and take action to reduce them.