The U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced on Tuesday that the agency plans to have completed its 2021 backlog of around 8 million tax filings this week. The IRS says that all 2021 original individual tax returns that are error-free and that were received last year should be completed in the coming days.
According to the IRS, over 143 million tax returns received in 2022 have been processed. The agency has returned over $298 billion in refunds to taxpayers, but still faces major challenges as Reuters reports. The IRS began the year with a sizable backlog, so it still has millions of paper returns that need to be processed.
The IRS said it has hired some 1,500 new employees to help out, but recently U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Congress to approve an $80 billion funding package to help the service modernize itself and deal with the backlog. The U.S. government also says it is searching for some $600 billion in unpaid tax bills.