The IRS May Withhold Your Check For A Few Reasons

(FiveNation.com)- Millions of people have been struggling with the IRS for years. One man from Ann Arbor, Michigan wondered why the IRS had claimed he owed $933 after a glitch at the federal agency held up his refund, according to Detroit Free Press.

The 76-year-old said that he was frustrated after receiving confusing paperwork from the IRS in January 2022 related to the 2020 tax season.

Mortimer isn’t the only one experiencing issues. Millions of people have waited for their refunds since 2022, making it the third consecutive year that the IRS failed to meet its obligation in getting Americans paid on time, according to the latest National Taxpayer Advocate report to Congress.

At the start of 2022, the IRS reportedly had a backlog of 4.7 million original individual 1040 returns and 3.2 million original business returns. At the end of the year, however, the agency made progress, reducing that number to 400,000 original individual tax returns and around 1 million business returns.

After going through a long process of trying to get in touch with Taxpayer Advocate Service, which offers assistance to those negatively affected by the IRS’ actions, Mortimer finally learned that he did overpay his taxes by $933. However, he is not getting refunded that money.

“I didn’t get my money but I don’t have to deal with them anymore,” Jeff Mortimer said.

Instead, the taxpayer advocate called to inform him that the federal government was going to use that money to cover tax issues dating back to 2013. Last week, he received a letter from the IRS corroborating what he was told. No check would be in the mail.

The latest notice from the IRS reportedly stated that the $933 he overpaid will go toward an amount he owed from 2013, which is allegedly more than $200.

The issues come as the IRS is telling Americans to begin reporting transactions worth $600 or more made over third party processors, like Venmo, according to American Pigeon.