Tens Of Millions Of Americans Are Still Waiting For Tax Refunds As IRS Drowns Under Backlog

More than 21 million Americans who filed paper tax returns have still not seen their refunds, according to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) report.

“At the end of the day, a typical taxpayer cares most about receiving his or her refund timely,” National Taxpayer Advocate Eric Collins wrote in a report to Congress last week. “These processing delays are creating unprecedented financial difficulties for millions of taxpayers and outright hardships for many.”

According to Collins — an IRS official charged with serving as the “voice of the taxpayer” within the agency — more than 90% of individual income taxpayers file their returns digitally. Before COVID-19, the IRS managed to process paper returns within four to six weeks. Over the past year, however, the delay has surpassed six months.

At the end of May, 21.3 million paper tax returns had not been processed.

“The IRS has said it is aiming to crush the backlogged inventory this year, and I hope it succeeds,” Collins wrote. “Unfortunately, at this point the backlog is still crushing the IRS, its employees, and most importantly, taxpayers. As such, the agency is continuing to explore additional processing strategies.”