You want to know WHY the IRS is taking so long to process returns?
It is because congress has reduced the IRS budget every year for at least a decade so they have to do more with less which now means it takes much much longer than a normal tax year... here are some of the things the IRS is having to deal with this year which are not normal:
1) continuing covid restrictions causing staffing/logistical issues including how to handle all these situations..
2) 2019 ( and earlier) returns that have still not been processed from last year + the new ones that have been added this tax season
3) Late 2020 tax law changes which required form/programming changes in January + a second stimulus payment be issued which also needs to be double checked against the stimulus credit taken on the return
4) Mid 2021 tax law changes some of which were retroactive to the 2020 return which required redoing the forms/programming yet again which prompted the IRS to have to process more than 16 million returns a second time
5)while also issuing a third stimulus payment AND recalculating a PLUS UP if needed on those returns that are filed after the third payment went out
6) all while using aging computer systems that are 5 years or older (ancient in computer time)
7) and while not having the ability to hire and train temporary staff fast enough (they hire thousands of temps every year which were laid off last year due to covid and have not returned because they make more sitting at home collecting unemployment )
😎and more returns than normal have been filed this year to date which in and of itself is enough to bogged down the system.
