
Continued delays result in paying interest on refunds
The IRS has paid nearly $14 billion in refund interest in the last seven years, according to a Government Accountability Office report published in April. The GAO said in that report, “The IRS has experienced several challenges in recent years, including difficulty hiring workers to process returns, implementing notable tax law changes, and managing the 2020 and 2021 filing seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The number of delayed returns is still in the tens of millions. The IRS legally must process tax refunds within 45 days and pays interest on delayed refunds. The IRS warned in January that tax refunds could be delayed due to staffing shortages and processing backlogs. A government watchdog report in January said the IRS was facing a crisis as it struggled with millions of backlogged tax returns. Reporting by Doug CunninghamUnited Press International is an international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the 20th century.