Noah Esper

Staff Writer

Nle5099@psu.edu

This year’s tax season will begin on January 24, 17 days earlier than it has in previous years due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic causing processing delays. The IRS urges individuals to take the necessary steps to ensure that their tax forms are turned in on time in order to prevent tax return and refund delays.

The IRS also requires anyone who received financial relief this year through COVID relief funds include those funds on their tax form, as those funds are not tax exempt. If you did receive some kind of financial aid through a recent aid program you should check the IRS website to see if those funds are considered tax exempt or not.

Another reason cited for this exceptionally early tax season is a lack of funding, as the IRS received less funding authorization from Congress than requested. The IRS has seen decreased funding for the past decade, leading to complaints of being understaffed and underfunded. The commissioner recently wrote an op-ed petitioning congress to increase the funding of the IRS, though this petition was clearly rejected. 

However, while generally the IRS is not liked by the average American due to it being the agency tasked with the unpopular task of collecting taxes, the IRS has faced some controversy souring relations with members of congress and the general public. A recent example being the controversial IRS reporting bill that was attached to the Biden administration’s social spending bill.  The bill  would have required banks to give the IRS data on any accounts with gross annual inflows of 600 dollars or more, later changed to 10,000 dollars. Republicans as well as Democratic Senator Joe Manchin criticized the bill as an invasion of privacy, leading to it ultimately  being scrapped. Though it is possible that this incident could have soured relations with Congress, leading to the rejection of increased funding. Another possible cause could be that publicly supporting increasing the funding and power of the IRS is generally unpopular with constituents, leading to many politicians attempting to avoid it. 

While the reason for the decreased funding of the IRS may still be unknown, those who are responsible for completing their own tax forms should begin preparations and make sure they have all the necessary information to complete them in the near future.