An official website of the U.S. Gov An official website of the U.S. Gov“In submitting this report, I’m finally able to deliver some good news. The taxpayer experience vastly improved during the 2023 filing season. Despite these improvements, the IRS is still behind in processing amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence.”
2024 Annual Report to Congress (ARC). Each year’s ARC identifies the 10 most serious problems facing taxpayers and recommends how to fix them.
In her Fiscal Year 2025 Objectives Report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins states, “What a difference a year makes! … I’m finally able to deliver some good news: The taxpayer experience vastly improved during the 2023 filing season.” The IRS caught up in processing paper-filed original Forms 1040 for individuals and various business returns; refunds were generally issued quickly; and taxpayers calling the IRS were much more likely to get through – and with substantially shorter wait times. The IRS reduced its backlog of unprocessed paper returns by 80 percent.
Despite these improvements, the IRS reduced its backlog of unprocessed amended paper returns, taxpayer correspondence, and Accounts Management cases by only six percent. The IRS is still behind in processing amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence. Although the IRS was much more effective in answering taxpayer calls this year, that could only be accomplished by prioritizing the phones over other IRS operations, which resulted in greater delays in the processing of paper correspondence.
National Taxpayer Advocate delivers Annual Report to Congress; focuses on taxpayer impact of processing and refund delays
The Internal Revenue Code requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to submit two annual reports to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. The National Taxpayer Advocate is required to submit these reports directly to the Committees without any prior review or comment from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Office of Management and Budget. The first report, due by June 30 of each year, must identify the objectives of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate for the fiscal year beginning in that calendar year.
Preface
Section 7803(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to submit this report each year and in it, among other things, to identify the ten most serious problems encountered by taxpayers and make administrative and legislative recommendations to mitigate those problems. In each of the ten Most Serious Problem discussions in this report, we are including an IRS narrative response. Our intent is to help readers see both TAS’s perspective and the IRS’s perspective on the source and nature of key challenges and potential solutions.
Systemic Advocacy Objectives describe the objectives TAS will pursue to address systemic issues causing taxpayer burden or harm. Similar to the way Most Serious Problems are identified in the Annual Report to Congress, the National Taxpayer Advocate calls upon a multitude of sources to assist in identifying Systemic Advocacy Objectives including the experience of TAS staff, trends in advocacy efforts and TAS casework, and interactions with practitioners and external stakeholders.
