LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A backlog of paper returns has millions of people waiting on the Internal Revenue Service to open its mail.
An independent IRS report revealed paper returns from the 2019 tax year submitted in 2020 were stacked in trailers during the pandemic until IRS employees could get to them. In March, IRS Commissioner Charles Retting said in a hearing on Capitol Hill that there were still nearly 2.5 million to process. But, he forecasted that work to be done by "summer."
Now in July, the work is not done, as people like 72-year-old Chris Nance are still waiting for their tax returns.
"I log onto my IRS account every day online to see if they processed it and there's s transcript there for 2019," Nance said. "I think it's a disgrace. I think the IRS is broken."
Nance, a New Albany resident, is a former tax preparer for H&R Block and to this day remains meticulous with his work.
"I'll tell you how I know they're right when I do my return, I do it in two different software. I used H&R Block and TurboTax and make sure they both agree," Nance explained.
Nance submitted his 2019 taxes in July 2020, before the deadline extended by the COVID-19 pandemic expired. He kept the tracking slip to confirm its delivery to an IRS processing center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Eleven months later, he said he's received no money and no solid answers on the delay.
"I'd like to bring this thing to a conclusion so I can get my refund and stop worrying about it," Nance said.
When called before Congress in March, Commissioner Rettig said the IRS was doing its best to process the backdated returns.
“We got backed up on our calls when we shut down. We got backed up on our mail, it's a connected system,” he explained.
That system was unable to catch up as 2020 returns rolled in, several rounds of stimulus checks had to be sent out and a new child tax credit emerged. All of this occurred with the IRS short more than 4,000 workers.
“What I will tell you is our employees will work as hard as we can possibly work to get through this,” Rettig said.
But many people, like Nance, are out of patience and tired of waiting.
“I just think it's a disgrace and the taxpayers are not getting their money's worth," he said.
The IRS help center is back open to the public in Louisville by appointment only. Contact 844-545-5640 to make an appointment.
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