IRS Denies Shredding of Returns : Insists Majority of Taxpayers Will Get Refunds on Time
The head of the Internal Revenue Service today promised that most Americans will get their federal tax refunds on time and angrily disputed allegations that overworked employees had destroyed tax returns.
“Sheer, utter nonsense,” IRS Commissioner Roscoe L. Egger Jr. said of reports that workers in Philadelphia were so harried by production quotas that they had shredded some returns.
“We have no evidence of that kind of thing,” he told a news conference, adding that if somebody will present such evidence, the guilty employees will be prosecuted “so fast it’ll make your head swim.”
Watched by System
The first thing that happens to a return when it arrives at one of the 10 IRS service centers is that it is given a “document locater number,” Egger said. “We would know it from our accounting system” if returns were destroyed.
Troubles with a new $103-million computer system installed late last year in IRS service centers have dramatically slowed the processing of returns this year. Egger said most of the bugs have been worked out, and in most cases, returns that are filed by the deadline at midnight Monday and that result in a refund will be processed by the end of May.
If a return is filed by the April 15 deadline and results in a refund, the IRS is required to pay interest--the current rate is 13% a year--unless the refund is paid by June 1. “By and large, returns we get by next Monday midnight will be processed on time,” Egger said.
Interest Adds Up
Even so, he added, the IRS expects to pay about $200 million interest this year on late refunds. Last year it paid $209 million; in 1983, $205 million.
The IRS advises taxpayers to wait 10 weeks after filing before worrying about why a refund has not been received. This year, the agency has set up a telephone system that is designed to automatically check the status of a refund. The numbers to call for that service are listed in the back of the instructions for preparing tax returns.
Some people who have tried those numbers find them busy for long periods of time. But the system works, Egger insisted: “I’ve tried it myself.”
Not Relaxing Its Grip
The commissioner said taxpayers who read about IRS problems with computers and lost returns should not conclude that the agency is letting down its guard. “If they do, they’ll do it at their peril,” he said, adding that overall, “The system is doing exactly what we planned it to do.”
He bristled at repeated questions about reports from unnamed sources that some tax returns in the Philadelphia service center had been destroyed because employees there were finding it difficult to meet processing quotas. One report claimed that 20,000 returns were accidentally sent to the shredder.
Some reports have mentioned that those workers are only able to glance at the returns they process. “That’s all they’re expected to do,” Egger said, explaining that the job of those who “code edit” large numbers of returns is to see if the returns are signed, the W-2 forms attached and proper schedules are included.
