IRS will "absolutely" resolve backlog before end of the year, Commissioner Charles Rettig says
CBSN
The IRS could wipe out its massive backlog of returns by the end of the year, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said Thursday. His optimistic prognosis comes as millions of people are still waiting for the overburdened agency to process returns from past tax filing seasons and send their refunds, even as the IRS entered a new tax filing season.
The IRS still had 23 million items in its backlog to get through heading into this year's tax filing season, as it struggled to overcome hurdles exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, the Taxpayer Advocate wrote in her report the IRS was in a crisis. Treasury and IRS officials warned this could be the most challenging tax filing season for taxpayers and preparers to date.
Rettig appeared before the House Ways and Means committee Thursday for a hearing on the tax filing season. He said the agency will "absolutely" make it through the backlog before the end of 2022.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, voiced support for the measles vaccine Sunday amid a deadly outbreak in the Southwest, mainly in Texas.
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