June 22, 2022 The IRS is committed to having healthy inventories by the end of this year and continues to make strong progress handling unprocessed tax returns. This follows unprecedented actions taken by the agency, and these intensive efforts to help taxpayers will continue in the months ahead. The IRS announced yesterday that all processing on original, error-free individual tax returns filed in 2021 will be completed this week. The inventory numbers presented in the National Taxpayer Advocate report are neither the most accurate nor most recent figures. Today, the IRS is running ahead of tax return processing compared to a year ago. The IRS continues to make substantial progress on the inventory, and this effort is helped by a combination of significant new hiring — having recently received Direct Hiring Authority — as well as adding new contractor support, shifting existing staff, providing mandatory employee overtime and developing efficiency improvements. In general, the IRS respects the important role the National Taxpayer Advocate plays for taxpayers and tax administration, and we will closely be reviewing the midyear report.
