IRS Is Not Sending Notices for Unpaid Taxes Until it Catches Up on Mail Backlog

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, who chairs the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, asked the Internal Revenue Service to quit mailing notices for unpaid taxes to taxpayers who may have been affected by the mail backlog at the agency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many taxpayers have been receiving balance-due notices from the IRS even though they sent in their tax payments to the IRS months ago, because trailers full of mail have remained unopened since the start of the pandemic. 

This Spring, as Many IRS Offices Were Shuttered,
a Backlog of Millions of Pieces of
Unopened Mail Accumulated 
in Trailers Set Up Outside Agency Facilities.

As more IRS employees returned to work to deal with tax season, they began to sort through and process the mail, but that hasn’t stopped more correspondence from coming in every day.

“IRS officials reported that, due to office closures, the IRS has accumulated a staggering backlog of unopened mail,” Neal wrote in a letter Wednesday to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. 

At One Point This Summer,
The IRS Had Approximately 12 Million Pieces
of Unopened Correspondence in its Inventory.

Despite this unprocessed mail, the IRS reportedly has been sending notices to taxpayers whose correspondence and payments remain unopened. Therefore, many of the taxpayers receiving these notices already have made the payments that the IRS seeks.

On August 21, 2020, the IRS announced that it has suspended the mailing of three notices – the CP501, the CP503 and the CP504 – that go to taxpayers who have a balance due on their taxes. Although the IRS continues to make significant reductions in the backlog of unopened mail that developed while most IRS operations were closed due to COVID-19, this temporary adjustment to processing is intended to lessen any possible confusion that might be associated with delays in processing correspondence received from taxpayers.

These automatic follow-up notices will be temporarily stopped until the backlog of mail is reduced. The IRS will continue to assess the mail inventory to determine the appropriate time to resume the follow-up notices. 

However, Taxpayers Who Have Received But Not Yet
Responded To A CP14 Balance Due Notice
Are Encouraged To Promptly Respond.

In addition, the IRS has previously announced that these payments in the unopened mail will be posted and credited on the date the IRS received them – rather than the date the agency opened and processed them. The IRS reminds taxpayers in this situation they should not cancel their checks and should ensure funds continue to be available so the IRS can process them to avoid potential penalties and interest. To provide fair and equitable treatment, the IRS is also providing relief from bad check penalties for dishonored checks the agency received between March 1 and July 15 due to delays in this IRS processing.

As the IRS works to stop these mailings at our processing centers, some taxpayers and tax professionals may still receive these notices during the next few weeks due to delivery of existing mailings.

Due to high call volumes, the IRS suggests waiting to contact the agency about any unprocessed paper payments still pending.

Have IRS Tax Problem?

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