Washington (CNN)The Internal Revenue Service had more than 11 million unprocessed tax returns left over from the “most challenging year” taxpayers ever experienced and will begin the upcoming filing season already behind, according to a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate released Wednesday.
“There is no way to sugarcoat the year 2021 in tax administration: From the perspective of tens of millions of taxpayers, it was horrendous,” wrote Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, who heads an independent watchdog organization within the IRS.The processing delays could be “as bad, and potentially worse” this year, she added.The coronavirus pandemic created new challenges for the agency and brought on additional work. Congress tasked the IRS with sending out billions of dollars in economic relief benefits like the stimulus payments and monthly enhanced child tax credit payments. Those challenges exacerbated existing problems at the IRS created by longtime underfunding, the report said.