An independent watchdog group says the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) delays in resolving identity theft cases are “unjustified.”
Mid-year report A report submitted to Congress by the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent watchdog within the IRS, found that the 2024 tax season “generally proceeded smoothly” but there were delays in settling identity theft cases and sending out needed refunds.
Erin M. Collins, who heads the watchdog group, He criticized the pace of the IRS. He criticized the IRS for its “protracted and tarnished performance” in resolving the identity theft crisis, and he also criticized the IRS for delays in his 2023 annual report to Congress, raising the same concerns.
“It is unjust for the IRS to delay resolving identity theft victim assistance cases,” she wrote.
Collins noted that most cases affect people below the federal poverty line who need cost-of-living reimbursements.
She said in a report last year that it was taking the IRS about 19 months to resolve these cases and send refunds to taxpayers, and wrote in her latest report that “the problem is getting worse.” As of April 2024, the report said, the IRS was taking 22 months to resolve cases and had about 550,000 cases backlogged in its inventory.
“This nearly two-year delay ignores taxpayers’ right to quality service as outlined in the Bill of Rights,” Collins wrote. “The IRS must prioritize helping victims and resolve this issue quickly.”
Despite those delays, Collins said the IRS has “completed two filing seasons and demonstrated that the agency has restored service to pre-pandemic levels and has made improvements in most, but not all, service areas.”
“Without wishing to exaggerate, I believe that over the last four years we have progressed from despair to hope and optimism for the future of our agency and, by extension, the future of taxpayers,” she wrote.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS that makes recommendations to help taxpayers resolve problems they have with the IRS. WebsiteNext month, the IRS is expected to respond to the agency’s major recommendations for the 2025 fiscal year.
The Hill has reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
