On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on the challenges facing taxpayers, tax professionals and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during the current tax filing season. National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins testified to the challenges facing the IRS and the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) due to a lack of resources, staffing shortage, and increased complications due to the ongoing pandemic.

Both Democratic and Republican members of the subcommittee expressed their interest in clearing the existing IRS mail backlog and improving the tax filing season for their constituents. Democratic members emphasized the need for multi-year funding to address the modernization of IRS processes and technology, while Republican members countered that funding was not the issue, with at least $1.4 billion in unspent supplemental funding. Collectively, members expressed a willingness to work together to address the issues facing the IRS and taxpayers.