Thousands of IRS employees who have been called back to work during the government shutdown had not returned to work as of Tuesday, according to a House Democratic aide.
IRS staff briefed congressional committee staff on Thursday. According to the Democratic aide, the staff reported that in the IRS’s Wage and Investment Division, which includes tax-return processing centers and call centers, about 26,000 employees were called back to work and only 12,000 of them were working as of Tuesday. Another 9,000 were not able to be reached, while 5,000 employees said they could not come back to work while the shutdown persisted because of hardships.
{mosads}The IRS staff also told congressional aides that the level of service for the IRS’s phone lines are down compared to last year’s filing season, and wait times on the phone lines are longer. And the IRS staff reported that the agency has been losing 25 information technology staff members per week since the shutdown began, the House Democratic aide said.
Politico first reported the figures the IRS staff provided to congressional staff.
Policymakers have paid close attention to the IRS during the shutdown, because the tax-filing season is set to begin on Monday. Under the Treasury Department’s filing-season shutdown plan for the IRS, 46,000 employees are supposed to be working.
While the IRS is planning to issue tax refunds during the shutdown, Democratic lawmakers and tax professionals have expressed concerns that people might not receive their refunds as quickly as they normally would because the agency will not be at full staff and because the IRS workers who are on the job are not being paid.