The IRS and taxpayers face a number of obstacles before crossing the finish line in this year's longer-than-usual tax filing season, The Hill reported. The coronavirus prompted the IRS in March to extend the deadline for individuals to file their 2019 returns, and pay their 2019 taxes, from April 15 to July 15. In addition to processing returns during that time, the agency also had to implement COVID-19 relief measures passed by Congress in the spring. The virus also caused the IRS in March to direct most of its employees to work remotely, bringing a halt to key agency functions that cannot be performed remotely. As it started to bring employees back to their worksites in recent weeks, workers faced a backlog of tax returns to process and taxpayers to assist. “While we had to adjust and redeploy resources during the pandemic, our employees have remained dedicated to delivering the 2020 filing season,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last Tuesday. Throughout the pandemic, the agency has processed electronic returns, issued refunds via direct deposit and accepted electronic payments, Rettig said. He added that as part of the agency’s phased reopening, employees are processing paper tax returns, responding to mail and reopening telephone lines. Most people have already filed their tax returns, though the IRS has processed fewer returns and issued fewer refunds than it had at this point last year. The IRS said Thursday that as of June 26, it had processed about 129 million returns, down 10.6 percent compared to the same period last year. As of June 26, it had issued about 94 million refunds, down 10.3 percent from this point in 2019.
