IRS Documents GONE – 30 Million Of Them!
(ConservativeInsider.org) – Everyone, including the federal government, has their own way of working through various problems. Some people brainstorm solutions while others simply tough it out. However, in a unique move, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decided to destroy its problems — or at least around 30 million of them.
On Wednesday, May 4, the Treasury Inspector General for the Tax Administration (TIGTA) released an audit report detailing how the government should implement a new strategy to get businesses to file taxes online. This decision is motivated by the fact it costs the IRS more to process a paper tax return than an electronically filed one. For example, an audit of 2018 business tax returns showed over 22,000 returns that should have been e-filed but weren’t. It estimated that those returns cost the IRS over $30,000 to process instead of the $3,405 they would have spent on electronically filed returns.
During the audit, the TIGTA found the IRS destroyed an estimated 30 million tax documents in March 2021, because their paper return backlogs were simply too much to handle. The documents would typically be used to verify taxpayer identities and incomes after the IRS processed the taxes.
The #IRS decided to destroy an estimated 30 million paper-filed information return documents in March 2021 because of its inability to process its backlog of paper #tax returns, according to a new report. https://t.co/8o5EhZrmy2
— Accounting Today (@AccountingToday) May 9, 2022
While the IRS can still process the returns without the supporting documents, it cannot fully audit a file without them. However, this doesn’t mean the coast is clear. The tax agency can request taxpayers provide these documents again if they decide to audit someone in the future. With this in mind, it is always a good idea to keep all your tax return documents safe and secure for seven years — just in case you ever have to defend your return.
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