Taxpayers are now able to digitally submit all correspondence and responses to notices three months ahead of schedule, New and improved Where’s My Refund tool will launch in Filing Season 2024
WASHINGTON-Following a dramatically improved 2023 Filing Season thanks to Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investments, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced additional improvements taxpayers will experience next Filing Season. Treasury and the IRS also announced meeting the first goal of the Paperless Processing Initiative announced in August by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen and Commissioner of the IRS Danny Werfel. Taxpayers are now able to digitally submit all correspondence and responses to notices.
Paperless Processing Initiative: Taxpayers Now Able to Digitally Respond to All Correspondence
- The IRS has met the first goal of the Paperless Processing Initiative three months ahead of schedule. Taxpayers are now able to digitally submit all correspondence and responses to notices. The IRS in February 2023 launched the ability to submit nine notices through the Document Upload Tool. Prior to Filing Season 2023, taxpayers could only submit these documents through the mail. The IRS has now achieved the ability to digitally respond to all notices in eight months. As of October 27, the IRS has received more than 35,000 responses to notices via the online tool.
- As a result of achieving this goal, the IRS estimates more than 94% of individual taxpayers will no longer have to send mail to the IRS. Taxpayers use these non-tax forms to request or submit information on a range of topics, including identity theft and proof of eligibility for key credits and deductions to help working Americans. Reaching this milestone will enable up to 125 million paper documents per year to be submitted digitally. Taxpayers who want to submit paper returns and correspondence may continue to do so.
- The IRS will meet the second goal of the Paperless Processing Initiative by the start of Filing Season 2024 by providing the option for taxpayers to e-File 20 additional tax forms, enabling up to 4 million additional tax documents to be digitally filed every year. This includes amendments to Forms 940, 941, 941-SS and 941(PR), which are some of the most common forms businesses file when amending returns.
Improved Digital Service Through Where’s My Refund Tool
- In Filing Season 2024, taxpayers will benefit from important new updates to the Where’s My Refund tool, which is the IRS’ most popular customer service tool. In 2022, Where’s My Refund was used by 54 million taxpayers and generated 550 million hits. However, the tool provides limited information, often leading taxpayers to call the IRS to inquire about their refund status.