Accounting and Tax | Columnist Forum Vol 32 No 4
Delano Sherley
Last month, we described the difficulty in trying to contact the Internal Revenue Service, due to their substantial backlog of payments, correspondence and tax returns that have not been processed from last year. Here are some tips to help avoid delays in getting your refund:
1) Send your tax documents to your tax professional as soon as possible this year. Filing later in the tax season will mean longer processing times.
2) E-file your returns. The IRS is still processing 2020 paper returns, which take much longer to process.
3) Provide a power of attorney to your tax professional (form 2848) so that they will get copies of any tax notices automatically and can contact the IRS on your behalf.
4) Be patient. Current processing times are estimated to be approximately 20 weeks.
5) If you contact the IRS, wait at least 6-10 weeks to follow up – it takes at least that long for the IRS to process any correspondence.
7) If you call the IRS, try early in the morning (7:00-9:00 am) Lunchtime is a bad time to call, as is Monday or Friday.
