Monday is Tax Day—the federal deadline for individual tax filing and payments—and the IRS expects to receive tens of millions of last-minute filings electronically and through paper forms. As of April 8, the IRS had received more than 103 million returns for this tax season, and it had issued more than 63 million refunds worth more than $204 billion. For comparison, last year more than 169 million people completed an income tax return by the end of the year. That probably leaves nearly 40% of this year's taxpayers still unaccounted for, with many scrambling to submit their documents by Monday, reports the AP.
The IRS this year is facing its biggest backlog in history. At the end of the 2021 filing season, the agency had 35.3 million returns waiting for processing. This year will be one of the most challenging for the agency, with its record low staffing numbers. The IRS workforce is the same size it was in 1970, though the US population has grown exponentially and tax laws have become increasingly complicated. Though the agency announced plans in March to hire at least 10,000 more workers to help process returns, administration officials say the IRS is in desperate need of more funding, as its budget has fallen over the last decade.
Nina Tross, executive director of the National Society of Tax Professionals, said that if people haven’t filed their taxes by now, "they're better off filing an extension." But, she added, "People don't realize that filing an extension has zero effect" as long as they have paid their income taxes by Tax Day. Doing so gives you until Oct. 17 to file your taxes, and Moneywatch explains the process here. It also tacks on a happy fact for Maine and Massachusetts residents: They have until Tuesday to file, as those states observe Patriots Day on April 18.
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