Congressman Dan Meuser (R-PA), joined by colleagues Randy Weber (TX-19), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Andrew Garbarino, (NY-02) and Darrell Issa (CA-50), introduced legislation aimed at helping taxpayers and holding the management of the Internal Revenue Service accountable in clearing a massive backlog of returns. The Require Employees to Uniformly Return Now (RETURN) Act (H.R. 8742) calls for IRS employees who are working remotely to come back to offices to expedite millions of unprocessed refunds and get money back into the hands of taxpayers. The legislation is a modified version of a proposal by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
The RETURN ACT:
- Prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from authorizing its employees to telework or spend the new $80 billion appropriation from the Inflation Reduction Act until the Commissioner certifies that the tax return backlog from the 2020 tax year has been eliminated.
- Allows for telework options that existed for certain individual cases prior to the pandemic and includes a five-day grace period after enactment to allow employees to transition back to the office.
The IRS Commissioner testified in an April hearing before the Senate Finance Committee that 53% of the IRS workforce are fully telework and the rest are on a flex schedule. Telework was originally allowed as a COVID-19 pandemic precaution but has continued despite the IRS having a 98% vaccination rate for its employees.
Democrats have appropriated $80 billion outside of regular appropriations to increase the size and scope of the IRS to cut down on what they claim is a “tax gap.”
“The IRS has been terribly mismanaged by the Biden Administration and there are extensive delays processing returns, leading to frustration for taxpayers,” Rep. Meuser commented. “Now, under the Inflation Reduction Act, there are plans to double the size of the IRS. When a department is failing due to poor management, the worst thing we can do is expand the workforce. This bill will prohibit an expansion until the IRS can do the job it had done in the past and reach a reasonable level of processed returns.”
“The Biden IRS is in crisis with a massive backlog of unprocessed tax returns, unanswered phone calls, and bureaucratic delays due to IRS’s employees “working” from home, stated Rep. Weber. “The RETURN Act would not only bring these employees back into the office but also require IRS to eliminate the 2020 backlog and prioritize refunds before spending one dime on auditors who will just squeeze taxpayers of their hard-earned money. The IRS needs to stop twiddling its thumbs and get the staff it already has to return to work.”
"My constituents reach out to my office almost daily, expressing issues related to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the massive backlog of tax returns. As our nation and most of the world have turned the corner from the dire times of COVID-19, there is no excuse for government employees not to return to the office and work efficiently for the American people," said Rep. Donalds. "I am proud to support the RETURN Act, which will expedite millions of unprocessed refunds and improve the productivity of this lethargic government agency. Additionally, this bill halts Biden's $80 billion appropriation for the IRS until they fulfill the backlog."
“For decades, the IRS has failed to meet even the basic standard of customer service, timely response, and informed advice the American people should expect of a government agency this large and well-funded. It’s time for a commitment to accountability, and the common-sense approach of the RETURN Act will guarantee that the IRS workforce is in the office and truly available to taxpayers who need and deserve the services that only the IRS can provide,” commented Rep. Issa.
Original source can be found here.
