IRS warns taxpayers and tax professionals to be ready for a turbulent tax-filing season. The IRS is still dealing with backups in processing returns from the past two filing seasons, and the upcoming filing season will just make things worse. The volume of unopened mail at the IRS, including tax returns, as of December 23rd was over six million pieces, which is more than six times the normal amount.
Thus, when it comes to dealing with the IRS or having your tax professional deal with them for you, patience is more important than ever. It still sometimes takes hours to get anyone from the IRS on the phone; and when they do answer, they might just tell you to allow more time for payments or other correspondence to be processed.
Filing your tax return electronically will help get your return around the backlog and in most cases will speed up your refund. It will also assure that you have proof of timely submitting your return.
The IRS will begin electronically accepting returns on January 24, 2022 for the 2021 individual tax filing season.