Posted on 02/12/2019 12:11:33 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
The partial U.S. government shutdown in December and January caused “real harm” to taxpayers, with many unable to get help from officials to understand their tax obligations, a government watchdog said.
In a report released on Tuesday, the Internal Revenue Service watchdog said the 35-day shutdown cut back on the number of IRS call center agents who were able to talk to taxpayers about preparing their returns.
“Make no mistake about it, these numbers translate into real harm to real taxpayers,” the National Taxpayer Advocate, an internal IRS watchdog, said in a report to Congress.
The shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history, also added to backlogs piling up for IRS workers, leaving them unable to ship tax forms to businesses in time this year for companies to meet some filing deadlines, according to the report.
“The IRS therefore suggested that employers consider requesting filing extensions,” according to the report, which also called on Congress to budget more funding for tax collectors.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
So has the Commie Rat Party
The forms should have been shipped even BEFORE the shutdown happened. Forms are available at the libraries and have been ready for quite a while.
S. W. A. M. P.
Barf. If shutdowns were free of pain, then one, there’d be no point in having one and two, they would need to be made permanent.
All IRS forms are readily downloadable. Some can be completed online.
Completing an IRS 1040 without TurboTax or equivalent has been essentially impossible or brainbendingly difficult for 15 years. Although there are things about TTax which I don’t like, all of them can be easily bypassed or overridden. Arguably, it’s silly and borderline dangerous to do your taxes w/o TTax as it would be very easy to forget a form (or a deduction)
It is true that if taxpayer advocates (who are in my experience VERY helpful, though you do have to wait on hold for a long time) are off work, then that’s a something.
I never would have thought that America needs a do-over but America is very much post greatness even with the MAGA temporary renaissance.
Blame the petulant Democrats. No one else.
Is this the same corrupt IRS that targeted conservative groups?
what’s really strange is why IRS was partially closed down...you’d think Caesar would keep the Dictatorship’s Tax-Extracting Troops FULLY STAFFED 24/7/366!?
IRS watchdog. Aren’t they the jokers who let Lois Lerner slide through the cracks? They can’t be taken seriously.
This is a load of crap. At the time of the shutdown, no one had received their W2’s , etc.
Deep State advocate - free tax programs for folks cover the bases and those in higher tax brackets have people who know the laws....no way a lot of folks were hurt because the IRS couldn’t provide them with answers to questions....I’m retired and sold a house and used Tax Act Free to do and file my taxes...was able to get all the help I needed via the site and program along with the potential to talk to their CPA types if I wanted.
The national taxpayer advocate must be staffed by nitwit LIB losers. They are so full of it. A government shutdown by about 15% was a blessing...except to the parasitic class.
Big Government, always inefficient and always making excuses for their failures.
Yepper...it’s always the nitwit Dems that claim great harm when no harm occurred....and predicate that great harm on how stupid the stove-top touchers are....they cause their own harm.
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