Half of IRS employees to be recalled during tax season

Under an updated contingency plan covering the upcoming filing season, the IRS will recall 57% of its workforce to handle tax season duties, the agency reported Tuesday.

Temporary funding for the IRS for fiscal year 2019 expired at midnight on Dec. 21. Since then, the IRS has been operating under a contingency plan that furloughed 88% of its workforce, and only 9,946 were considered “excepted/exempt” and allowed to continue working. Under the new plan, 46,052 IRS employees will be considered “excepted/exempt” and will return to work.

The new plan will allow the IRS to process paper and electronic returns and issue refunds to taxpayers. The IRS had previously announced that tax season will start on Jan. 28 and that it would be issuing refunds during the government shutdown.

The IRS will also be opening its call sites and responding to taxpayer questions.

All IRS audit and examination functions and nonautomated collections will continue to be put on hold during the shutdown.

For prior coverage of IRS operations during the partial government shutdown, see “Government Shutdown Would Halt Many IRS Operations.”

— Alistair M. Nevius, J.D., (Alistair.Nevius@aicpa-cima.com) is The Tax Adviser’s editor-in-chief.