For the last few weeks, millions of American taxpayers have been put on notice that the 2022 tax season could potentially be a disastrous one due to the Internal Revenue Service’s massive backlog of unprocessed returns and staffing shortages.

But it appears that the tax agency already has made great headway to start the new tax season, as it has issued more than 4 million tax refunds. The average refund came in at about $2,200.

“The IRS is off to a strong start to this year’s tax season,” the agency said in a statement.

“For historical perspective, it’s important to remember these weekly numbers can shift dramatically during the initial weeks of filing season due to numerous factors, including the calendar and filing patterns that can change year to year,” it continued.

Compared to Last Year

However, per Forbes, at the same time during last year’s tax season, “refunds were averaging $2,880 for nearly 30 million returns processed.”

“One reason for the higher number of returns early last year was because last year’s filing season started two weeks late, giving taxpayers more time to be ready to file at the start of the season,” the magazine claimed. “One reason for the lower dollar amount of refunds so far this year is that most families with children got advanced child tax credit payments in the second half of 2021. Most of that money was simply an advance,” it added.

Processing Paper Returns

It was just last week when National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins told a House committee that the IRS will have “extraordinarily high” delays in processing returns once again this year.

Filing a paper return, she said, remains “at the heart of the agency's challenges and processing tax returns.” However, with more than 3 million tax returns that still must be scanned, transcribed, and processed, paper returns have driven huge delays since many of those must be manually entered into the system. In a recent report to Congress, Collins added that she is “deeply concerned about the upcoming filing season.”

The IRS has responded by stating that it was reassigning 1,200 employees to work on the growing backlogs. “This is an all-hands-on-deck situation to help people as quickly as possible and reduce the stress on employees who have been and continue to face unprecedented levels of inventory to be worked,” IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig said in an email to employees. The IRS has also opened Taxpayer Assistance Centers to alleviate some of the situational stress. 

Rettig, though, has noted that the vast majority of taxpayers—those who file electronically with no errors and choose direct deposit for refunds—should receive their refunds within twenty-one days.

Meanwhile, taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit and/or Additional Child Tax Credit should expect to see their refunds by early March.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.