IRS: Some Refunds Will be Delayed in 2017

It’s hard to make tax news interesting because it’s always the same story over and over again. People are getting scammed by criminals who impersonate the IRS, politicians want to replace the IRS Commissioner, the IRS hasn’t been funded properly and doesn’t have the resources to do their job, the IRS filed a federal tax lien against a celebrity who owes millions of dollars in back taxes, and the IRS warns taxpayers to brace themselves for a rocky tax season. Even the “scholarly” articles are completely predictable: How do we close the Tax Gap?, Who’s going to overhaul and simplify the tax code?, What can be done to make the IRS run more efficiently?, How do we promote voluntary compliance?  The details change a bit, but it’s basically an endless cycle of the same old unsolved problems.

Today the IRS announced that refunds will be delayed for certain early filers during the 2017 tax season. New laws require the IRS to hold entire refunds where the filer claims the EITC or the ACTC until at least February 15th. Taxpayers who expect a refund naturally tend to file in January or as early as they can, and many are accustomed to getting their refund somewhere near the end of January or early in February. Believe me, it is common for people to plan vacations and major purchases around their tax refund. Having to wait a week or two longer may not seem like a big deal, but some people have come to really rely on that check, and a couple weeks can feel like a couple months.

At least this time the reason for the delay is more valid than “we don’t have the resources to process the refunds quickly.” The IRS is reviewing certain returns with heightened scrutiny in an effort to identify and prevent refund fraud and identity theft.

The IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, said, in explaining the need for today’s announcement, “We don’t want anyone caught by surprise if they get their refund a few weeks later than in previous years.” My question is, what, besides this press release, will the IRS do to get the word out? They’ll tweet it out a couple times, I have no doubt about that. But this kind of info needs to spread to all the news outlets, social media, tax preparers, and tax prep software so that even the least connected of America’s taxpayers will be aware.

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