Federal Shutdown & the IRS

Last updated on October 29, 2013

The IRS shutdown that lasted for 16 days has impacted all its operations, be it the issuing of the tax refunds, collection actions, or corresponding with taxpayers. During the shutdown, more than 90 percent of IRS employees were not working. Now, the IRS has re-opened all its operations, but the backlog is huge, and it will take many months for the IRS to catch up and get back to normalcy.

Because of the shutdown, the IRS has postponed the date of tax filing from one to two weeks. The impact of the shutdown will be seen next year too. This 16-day federal shutdown was the third longest shutdown in the history of the U.S. For the IRS, it means delays. The agency is now processing the backlog.

During the shutdown, the IRS could not be contacted by phone or visited in person, which inconvenienced taxpayers, as they had no idea how long the shutdown would continue. Only operations that were automated such as electronic filing of tax returns were running during the shutdown. The only method for taxpayers to receive relevant tax information from the IRS was through its website.

The federal shutdown led to difficulties both for the IRS and the taxpayers, but now that the IRS is fully functional, taxpayers can expect to get their refunds and resolve their tax problems. Because the IRS is overburdened at present, taxpayers whose tax issues are not urgent can expect delays.