CALLS TO DELAY THE TAX FILING DEADLINE

Calls to delay the tax filing deadline. Various accounting organizations and leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee are calling for extending the tax filing deadline to give the American taxpayer, the IRS, and accounting professionals an extra three months. Delays at the IRS, due to an increased work load are only one of the reasons cited. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, House Ways and Means Committee chairman and Oversight Subcommittee chairman Bill Pascrell, Jr. D-New Jersey, urged the IRS to expend the 2021 filing tax deadline until July 15th, noting that the COVID_19 pandemic is continuing to impose a "titanic strain" on the IRS as well as taxpayers. They pointed out that as of the end of February, the number of tax returns that had declined nearly 25 percent compared to the same time last year, and the number of returns processed by the IRS was down 31 percent. In addition, only 27 percent of phone calls to the IRS are being answered, signaling that about three out of every four taxpayers who attempt to reach the IRS can't reach anyone by phone. Many of those taxpayers are behind and need Tax Resolution Services. Calls to delay the tax filing deadline.

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners echoed calls in recent weeks from the National Association of Tax Professionals and the American Institute of CPAs for pushing back the tax deadline. Tax pros and the IRS are facing pressure after tax season was pushed back about three weeks this year to give the IRS time to send out the $600 economic Impact Payments mandated by last December's COVID-19 relief package. The IRS has also had to work on the new $1.9 stimulus plan, recently passed, and administer it. We stand in the midst of the most important tax filing season in recent memory, and taxpayers cannot get the help they need from the IRS," said Neal and Pascrell in a joint statement. "Returns, received by the IRS have fallen significantly behind last year's numbers. On top of that, once it is signed into law the stimulus bill will change the tax laws applicable to unemployment benefits received in 2020 and reported on returns filed during this filing season.