For many people, the grey, dismal, dreary conditions Monday had nothing to do with the weather, it was tax deadline day.This year, it was maybe even more ominous than many years past because of the shortage of workers facing the IRS in the wake of the pandemic.The IRS is working to hire about 10,000 workers over the next year. “The last information we saw is that they’re about 12 million returns behind right now,” Gary Scheer said. “Over the last year, only 11 percent of the phone calls to the IRS got answered.”“They’ve just been overwhelmed by 2020’s tax season and then the stimulus checks and the advance child tax credit and now, the 2021 filing season,” Patricia Scheer said.The Scheers own GPS tax services in Cincinnati.What it all means to taxpayers is those who file paper forms through the mail right now could wait six to eight months or more for their returns. E-filing is quicker. Tax experts said those are coming in a few weeks, typically.Because of the pandemic, some of the new complications like the child tax credit and stimulus payments are intimidating people as they go to fill out their tax forms.“A lot of people, when they get stuck on a tax issue, they just don’t file. They don’t do anything and that’s the wrong thing to do,” Patricia Scheer said. The Scheers said if someone is not going to make the deadline, filing an extension is the best way to avoid some of the most costly tax penalties.
For many people, the grey, dismal, dreary conditions Monday had nothing to do with the weather, it was tax deadline day.
This year, it was maybe even more ominous than many years past because of the shortage of workers facing the IRS in the wake of the pandemic.
The IRS is working to hire about 10,000 workers over the next year.
“The last information we saw is that they’re about 12 million returns behind right now,” Gary Scheer said. “Over the last year, only 11 percent of the phone calls to the IRS got answered.”
“They’ve just been overwhelmed by 2020’s tax season and then the stimulus checks and the advance child tax credit and now, the 2021 filing season,” Patricia Scheer said.
The Scheers own GPS tax services in Cincinnati.
What it all means to taxpayers is those who file paper forms through the mail right now could wait six to eight months or more for their returns. E-filing is quicker. Tax experts said those are coming in a few weeks, typically.
Because of the pandemic, some of the new complications like the child tax credit and stimulus payments are intimidating people as they go to fill out their tax forms.
“A lot of people, when they get stuck on a tax issue, they just don’t file. They don’t do anything and that’s the wrong thing to do,” Patricia Scheer said.
The Scheers said if someone is not going to make the deadline, filing an extension is the best way to avoid some of the most costly tax penalties.
