The IRS is drastically short of manpower, and it is costing the government $3.3 billion in delayed refund interest payments. A major ‘fix’ is needed…

Market Watch, Feb 5, 2022: The Internal Revenue Service has way too many unprocessed tax returns from last year — and far too few job applications for workers who will help the agency dig out of the backlog.

Though the IRS is seeking to fill 5,000 positions at several campuses across the country, only 179 positions have been filled so far, according to Erin Collins, national taxpayer advocate at the IRS.

At same time, the IRS is facing a backlog that, as of late December, included 6 million unprocessed 2021 tax returns and another 2.3 million amended returns.
The pay for the clerical jobs wading through the paperwork isn’t exactly enticing, Collins said in congressional testimony Tuesday. Many of the roles connected to submission-processing start at a federal-worker pay grade that’s just under $25,000 a year, she said.

At a time when employers are raising wages to draw in and keep workers during a labor shortage, “it is not surprising that the IRS is having difficulty finding enough suitable job applicants,” she wrote in testimony to a House of Representatives Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee.

………………………………………………

IRS Paying Billions In Interest On Millions Of Delayed Tax Returns

ZeroHedge, May 10, 2022 – Excerpts:

The IRS is paying interest on overdue refunds to the tune of 4%, up 1% from the prior quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal, which notes that’s more than half of what a money-market or a savings account is currently paying.

The backlogged agency has 45 days to process a tax return and issue a refund, after which interest begins accumulating. In 2021, they paid $3.3 billion in interest, which was 3x the amount paid in 2015, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“It’s not a small amount of money,” said Jessica Lucas-Judy, director of tax issues at GAO. “If there’s some way to avoid some of these payments, that’s probably a good thing.”

The IRS has been moving slower than usual to process tax returns. Administration officials say that is the result of years of Republican-backed budget cuts. Republicans say the agency hasn’t given priority to taxpayer service. Some recent years have been particularly difficult. In fiscal 2019, the aftermath of a government shutdown caused a backlog. The IRS slowed again when the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 and is still months behind schedule in processing paper returns.

As of April 29, the IRS has 9.6 million unprocessed individual tax returns, some from tax year 2020 and some from 2021. The agency says it is taking more than 20 weeks to handle amended tax returns and hopes to catch up on all of its processing backlogs by the end of 2022. – WSJ

The $3.3 billion in 2021 interest payments works out to around 1/4 of the cost to run the IRS, however the interest payments don’t come out of the tax agency’s budget.

According to the GAO, the IRS isn’t being proactive enough about excessive interest payments.

“IRS does not fully understand the causes for refund interest payments—both within and outside of its control—and therefore cannot communicate this information to Treasury and Congress,” the GAO wrote.

The IRS’s answer? ‘it’s complicated.’

_______________________________________

There is a simple and powerful solution to the IRS’ “complicated” processing problems: The Leviticus 25 Plan.

All U.S. citizens participating in The Leviticus 25 Plan will forego their tax refunds for the initial five year activation period (2023-2027).

Benefits – Federal Income Tax Recapture
The scoring model assumes that 80% of U.S. citizens will participate in The Plan.
Participants must give up their tax refunds through the Plan’s recapture provisions for the 5-year target period (2023-2027).

According to 2021 IRS Filing season statistics, through Dec 3, 2021: 129,841,000 total refunds were paid out for a total of $365.499 billion. The estimated refund total
for the full year, through December 31st: $365.5 billion.

The Leviticus 25 Plan would reduce the number of refunds each year (2023-2027) by 80%, effectively dropping the gross number of refunds in need of processing from approximately 130,000,000 down to about 26,000,000.

The IRS would NOT need to hire the additional thousands of employees, and they would NOT be put in the bind of having to pay $3.3 billion in interest payments on unprocessed refunds.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a powerful solution to the IRS’ dilemma, and it is loaded up and ready to go.

Also note – Refund totals have increased by ~$44 billion over the past five years, from $323.9 billion (2017) to a current (estimated) $365.5 billion (2021), representing an average increase of $8.32 billion / year.
A conservative estimated average of $8 billion per year (2023-2027) will be used for this recapture calculation.
2023: $382 billion
2024: $390 billion
2025: $398 billion
2026: $406 billion
2027: $414 billion
Total: $1.990 trillion
Total recapture X 80%: $1.990 trillion X .8 = $1.592 trillion
Total recapture per annum (2023-2027): $1.592 / 5 = $318.4 billion
Source: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-december-3-2021

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4074 downloads)