It's likely to be a frustrating tax season, deputy treasury secretary says

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It's likely to be a frustrating¹ tax season, deputy treasury² secretary says

Transcript³

This week marks the start of tax filing season, and the Internal Revenue Service is expecting it to be another frustrating one.

Last year, filers faced delays on returns and challenges getting help on the phone, with COVID-19 relief payments and child tax credits complicating⁴ matters. In fact, the agency is still working its way through a backlog⁵ of millions of 2020 returns.

As NPR has reported, the National Taxpayer⁶ Advocate — the IRS' internal watchdog — said earlier this month that in 2021, the agency had a backlog of 35 million returns that required manual processing and taxpayers⁷ who called for guidance had only a 1 in 9 chance of getting their calls answered.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Morning Edition's A Martínez that an understaffed and overworked IRS is bracing⁸ for a similarly tough season this time around. For reference, most people have until April 18 to submit their income tax returns.

"It is going to be, unfortunately, a frustrating tax season," Adeyemo said. "What that means for taxpayers is that they need to make sure that they file online, that they take steps to make sure that their returns are prepared, because unfortunately due to the pandemic and chronic⁹ underfunding of the IRS, the IRS has fewer people to answer their phone calls and to deal with taxpayer issues."

The IRS blames budget and staffing shortages

Federal funding for the IRS has declined by about 20% in the last decade, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate.

Adeyemo says budget issues, staffing shortages and unreliable technology infrastructure¹⁰ have all made the agency's job more difficult — especially as its workload¹¹ increases because of the pandemic. It has distributed over 150 million stimulus¹² checks and over 36 million child tax credit payments, he notes.

The IRS received some 119 million calls last year, compared with about 35 million in a typical tax filing season, he adds. Even though the agency is going to put more people on the phones this year, Adeyemo says it simply doesn't have enough resources to meet demand.

"It's important for us to step back and realize that we're in a place where they have as many employees at the IRS today as they had in the 1970s, and they also have a technology infrastructure that was based in the 1960s and 1970s," he says.

Indeed, IRS computers are the oldest major tech systems in the federal government.

There are steps the agency and taxpayers can take to help ease the process

The IRS is asking people to file their taxes electronically if they can and to make sure they have all their paperwork together during the process.

Adeyemo acknowledges that not everyone has internet access to do so and encourages those who need it to go to community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites for free, low-income tax assistance.

If you file your taxes online and the information is correct, you should get your refund¹³ within 21 days, Adeyemo says. That will help the agency reduce its inventory¹⁴ going forward.

The agency has also taken steps to try to ease the load proactively by sending letters to recipients¹⁵ of stimulus checks or child tax credits explaining the numbers they should put in their returns to make sure they're not rejected.

Structural¹⁶ solutions would make future filing seasons run more smoothly¹⁷

The Biden administration's Build Back Better Act would give the agency an additional $80 billion in funding over 10 years.

Adeyemo says that proposal would bolster¹⁸ the agency in many ways, making future filing seasons easier and even helping¹⁹ to close the "tax gap" between what people owe and what they pay.

That's because it would give the IRS more resources to invest in enforcement toward the wealthy Americans who "have the ability to hire armies of lawyers and avoid taxation²⁰."

But, as NPR's Brian Naylor has pointed²¹ out, the future of Build Back Better hangs in the balance, and lawmakers have yet to agree on a funding bill for the agency for this fiscal²² year.

1 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

5 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

6 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

7 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

8 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

9 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

12 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

13 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。

14 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

15 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

17 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

18 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

21 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

22 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。