IRS Suspends Certain Computer-generated Letters

It’s probably safe to say that most of us do not like finding a letter from the Internal Revenue Service in our mailboxes.

Now, many of those computer-generated letters are being discontinued.

According to the IRS, they are suspending more than a dozen letters, including the mailing of automated collection notices normally issued when a taxpayer owes additional tax, and the IRS has no record of a taxpayer filing a tax return.

Other mailings include balance due notices and unfiled tax return notices.

The IRS entered this filing season with several million original and amended returns filed by individuals and businesses from the 2021 tax season that still have not been processed due to the challenges of the pandemic.

As of early January, the IRS said they still had about 6-million paper returns from last year that had not been processed.

IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said the move is to help avoid confusion for taxpayers and tax professionals.

“IRS employees are committed to doing everything possible with our limited resources to help people during this period,” said Rettig. “We are working hard, long hours pushing creative paths forward in an effort to be part of the solution, rather than the problem. Our employees continue to expend every effort to balance a confluence of multiple, unprecedented demands − including successfully starting the filing season, working our inventory of unprocessed tax returns as well as looking for additional ways to minimize burden for taxpayers, tax professionals and businesses.

“Our efforts are not limited to suspension of these additional letters and the possibility of similar actions going forward. We have redeployed and reallocated resources throughout the IRS and have implemented innovative strategies in an ongoing effort to provide a meaningful reduction in our inventories,” Rettig said.

Rettig said the automatic notices have been temporarily stopped until the backlog of returns from last year is worked through.

Some taxpayers and tax professionals may still receive these notices during the next few weeks but Rettig said generally, there is no need to call or respond to the notice as the IRS continues to process prior-year tax returns as quickly as possible.

However, if a taxpayer or tax professional believes a notice is accurate, they should act to rectify the situation for the well-being of the taxpayer.

The IRS does not have the authority to stop all notices as many are legally required to be issued within a certain timeframe.

The IRS encourages those who have a filing requirement and have yet to file a prior year tax return or to pay any tax due to promptly do so as interest and penalties will continue to accrue.

You can go online to IRS.gov for payment options.