The IRS is Not Immune to COVID-19

While many of us work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, we may miss a few, or many, aspects of working in our office. While there may be benefits to working from home, such as spending more time with your pet, less commuting, and more sleep, there are many negatives. Some at-home workers may not have the necessary resources available. Others may need the extra monitors that are still sitting on their office desk, collecting dust or the files in their filing cabinet. What about the mail that is accumulating at their desk?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees are not exempt from these issues. As the IRS employees are now permitted to return to work, they are encountering mass amounts of mail at their offices. According to Nina Olsen, the IRS had to rent extra storage space for all of the documents they received during their stay-at-home orders. Even though Tax Day 2020 was moved to July 15 to allow everyone more time to file their taxes, many people may have already filed them. For the filers who file manually by mailing in their tax return, results could take a little longer than usual as these documents could be deep in a storage unit of mail.

Not only is the IRS opening mail later than initially expected due to COVID-19, they are also sending mail later than expected. Most of this mail was prepared before the stay-at-home orders were implemented, and to save time, money, and paper, the IRS does not intend to reprint each of these. So, taxpayers receiving IRS notices mustn't panic when receiving mail. The IRS intended to send out the notices prior to COVID-19 with specified due dates, such as March. If you receive a notice from the IRS with a March due date, do not be alarmed. The notices that are now being sent out from the IRS should also include a letter notifying you of the corrected due date. Be sure to read this extra announcement thoroughly and keep it on file in case any issues arise. As always, be sure to check the IRS website if you have any concerns regarding a notice.

During this time, you may be struggling with the natural issues that arise when working from home. If you tend to feel frustrated with other companies not replying or performing as expected, remember, we are all still adjusting to the impacts caused by COVID-19. During this time Symmetry Software, is committed to helping the payroll community by providing resources and updates. Symmetry Software is now offering free 90-day access to our online withholding forms for essential employers that need immediate access.