ICYMI: As New Filing Season Approaches, Shaheen Presses Treasury, IRS For Answers on Granite Staters’ Outstanding 2019 Tax Returns

 **Shaheen’s office has heard from over 100 Granite Staters about delayed tax returns**

(Washington, DC)  – Last week, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig to provide answers on the significant delays taxpayers in New Hampshire and across the country are continuing to face with the processing of their tax returns for tax year 2019.

According to the IRS agency website, 7.1 million individual and 2.3 million business tax returns for tax year 2019 remain unprocessed as of November 24, 2020. Shaheen’s office has received over 100 complaints from Granite State taxpayers regarding delayed tax returns and a lack of timely status updates from the IRS. This is critical as every penny counts for New Hampshire families and millions more across the country, who continue to suffer from the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

In her letter, Shaheen highlighted the significant difference receiving an income tax refund can make for those affected by the agency’s delays and pressed the IRS for answers on how many 2019 individual and business tax returns remain to be processed, what steps the agency has taken to expedite processing of the remaining 2019 returns, whether it requires additional resources to manage the backlog of tax returns and what the impact will be for taxpayers who file their 2020 returns in a timely fashion with an outstanding unprocessed 2019 return.

Read it here in the Associated Press, or see the letter in full below. A PDF of Shaheen’s letter is available here. 

Shaheen: Many still have unprocessed 2019 tax returns

 

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire says she’s hearing from “numerous” constituents who say their 2019 tax returns haven’t been processed and, if owed, refunds haven’t been issued.

The coronavirus pandemic delayed the processing of tax returns for many last year.

“That we have entered calendar year 2021 and there are 2019 returns and refunds that remain to be processed and issued is unacceptable,” Shaheen, a Democrat, said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig.

With the 2020 tax filing season rapidly approaching, Shaheen asked how many 2019 individual and business tax returns remain to be processed; what steps has the IRS taken to expedite them; and how have funds appropriated by the federal CARES Act been deployed by the IRS.

She also wants to know and if there are additional resources the IRS needs and what the impact will be for taxpayers who file their 2020 returns in a timely fashion with an outstanding unprocessed 2019 return.

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