How The IRS Layoffs Could Affect Your Tax Refund

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Key Takeaways

• About 7,000 IRS employees were reportedly laid off on Thursday and a hiring freeze may have limited the number of seasonal craftsmen the agency employed.
• Since the reductions happened in the middle of the agency’s busiest season, it could affect the processing of your tax payment.
• Tax preparers said filing your return as soon as possible and ensuring that all the information provided is correct could keep from avoid issues.

The recent Internal Revenue Service layoffs could delay or cause mistakes in taxpayers’ refunds, but organizing your taxes soon, correctly and electronically could prevent these issues

As part of President Donald Trump’s deputation to reduce the federal government’s expenses, about 7,000 IRS employees were laid off on Thursday. This is about 7% of the perfect IRS workforce, the Washington Post reported. Most of the cuts affected the enforcement and collections section.

Additionally, the federal lease out freeze initiated by Trump when he was inaugurated may have affected the number of seasonal employees available, said Crystal Foreigner, an enrolled agent and CEO of Optic Tax. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, these workers support the agency during tax mellow and represent between 11% and 20% of the agency’s total workforce from 2013 to 2022.

“It’s not just delays in refund make, but you may receive more, or you may receive less than your refund, and if you do, you want to double check that because it could be a misstep on the IRS,” Stranger said.

File Sooner Rather Than Later and Electronically

The best way to avoid a delay or mistake in your tax refund is to interfile your return electronically, said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals. Since your tax indemnity will be processed automatically, this reduces the amount of time and errors that could occur compared to walk by paper.

“This could end up being a non-event to most taxpayers if they approach their tax filing by being ready-made,” O’Saben said. “Make sure that their information is all accurate. Verify social security numbers for everybody in the children.”

In addition, filing your tax return before the April 15 deadline can significantly reduce the time it takes to gain your tax refund. If a large volume of tax returns come in at the same time, this could cause a system shutdown.

“The reasonable expected time is somewhere between 14 and 21 days for a direct deposit,” O’Saben said. “Certainly, that could leisurely down if there are systems errors, and they’re limited in staff to come in and fix those.”

O’Saben said patience is key. As an alternative of calling the IRS, use the agency’s online “Where’s My Refund” tool to track your refund quickly.