... The government has reopened again but, according to experts, it may take some time for the Internal Revenue Service to recover after five million pieces of mail went unopened during the shutdown. That according to CBS News via the federal watchdog National Taxpayer Advocate. Officials said it could take the IRS at least a year to get back to normal.

Reaction in North Texas was mixed to say the least.

Some wonder if this is a sign of a bigger problem. “If a few weeks us going to take a year to recover from, [then] something is wrong with them,” Gwen Koskinen commented on the CBSDFW Facebook site. “A year to make up for a shutdown that only lasted about a month?” said Brett Monroe, “Sounds fishy to me.”

According to Nancy Cordes with CBS News, the IRS is having trouble getting Americans their refunds on time. “It’s going to be massive catch up at this point,” Michelle Harris of the IRS said. Harris is one of the many IRS employees that was furloughed for 35 days. She told CBS that some of her coworkers quit ...

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/01/28/irs-five-million-unopened-mail-shutdown/

How many new letters/emails do they think will get backlogged in the near future as this 5,000,000 backlogged gets cleared?

Or do they expect the existing backlog to be taken care of in a day?

Fucking myopic idiots

... In a weekend interview, President Trump said the chances of congressional negotiators reaching a budget deal are "less than 50-50." He also said he wouldn't rule out another shutdown if Congress doesn't give him the $5.7 billion he wants for a border wall ...

"He's willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border," Mulvaney told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan.

"Is the President really prepared to shut down the government again in three weeks?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. I think he actually is," Mulvaney said ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-irs-could-take-at-least-a-year-to-return-to-normal-millions-of-mail-unopened/

BY IRINA IVANOVA
UPDATED ON: JANUARY 28, 2019 / 4:41 PM / MONEYWATCH

... Since in-person IRS help centers were closed, taxpayers turned to the postal system, and the IRS went from getting 200,000 pieces of mail per day to 700,000.

That's not the only backlog the agency faces. Some IRS workers quit during the shutdown, and the agency has delayed hiring thousands of temporary workers, which it typically does before tax season. Michelle Harris, an IRS employee, told CBS News she expected "massive catch up at this point" ...

"Now, it's like the hundred-meter dash -- we have 21 days to get it done, and then who knows?" said Mark Steber, Jackson Hewitt's chief tax officer. Jackson Hewitt has been accepting returns for the last two weeks, but fewer people than normal have been filing, Steber said. "I would attribute that 100 percent to people hearing the government was shut down."

Steber expects a surge in tax filing over the next three weeks, above and beyond the 50 million returns that were filed during this time period last year ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-tax-season-begins-heres-how-behind-the-irs-is-2019-01-28/

By JOHN WOOLFOLK | jwoolfolk@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 27, 2019 at 7:00 am | UPDATED: January 28, 2019 at 9:22 am

W-2s, 1099s and other tax forms are filling up mailboxes, and the IRS is kicking off tax season Monday when it will start accepting returns for 2018, the first year affected by the biggest federal income tax overhaul since the 1980s.

What already was expected to be a steep learning curve over the new law got messier with the record-long government shutdown that ended with Friday’s reprieve after tens of thousands of IRS workers were furloughed ...

The change experts say is likely to surprise the most filers is that the IRS adjusted the tax withholding tables with the idea that workers would enjoy an immediate boost in their paychecks from the tax cut.

“However,” noted Redwood Shores CPA Larry Pon, “it doesn’t match up with your tax cut” ...

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/27/qa-big-tax-law-changes-irs-understaffed-expect-big-surprises-this-tax-season/

Although I assume that comes from my company.

This year I have already gotten all of the statements I'm supposed to get from my pension, SS, an insurance policy, and from one of my two annuities. I only have to wait on the paperwork from my investment accounts, and those always take FOREVER, as in I'm lucky to get them by the end of March.

But I do need to call my accountant and make the appointment to get my taxes done.

This month - and April - are the two busiest periods for the IRS. As my brother, in a different branch of the IRS said, when I asked about overtime said, "you must be confuing me with the private sector. We don't get overtime. Things just don't get done if we can't fit them in the day." So you shut down the operation at the busiest time of the year, can't pay overtime to catch up - so those 35 x 8 hour days have to be stolen from periods that are less busy - which won't show up until May/June.

And - as pointed out below - this is not a normal tax season. The rules were all tossed on their heads, and some of them won't be worked out until they become kinks partway through the filing season that someone has to fix. Even with the best of planning