Will IRS Layoffs Affect Tax Refund Timing? How To Track Status In RI

RHODE ISLAND — As Rhode Island taxpayers go to file their returns for 2024, they may be wondering if recent Internal Revenue Service layoffs will delay their refund.

Roughly 7,000 probationary workers were laid off in late February amid the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce and cut spending. The cuts came less than two months before the filing deadline of April 15.

Before the layoffs, the IRS estimated it should take 21 days or less for taxpayers and businesses to receive a refund if they file their returns online — unless it is flagged for manual review.

Reduced staffing could slow processing times for those returns that are missing information, need clarification on personal details, or have large refund amounts.

Tax attorney Adam Brewer told reporters that he doesn't believe the layoffs will affect most individuals who file electronically, but paper returns are a different matter and could take longer.

“If you send in a paper return, at a minimum someone at the IRS has to be there to open the envelope, and we saw in the pandemic that doesn’t get done when they get really far behind,” Brewer said, as quoted in The Hill. “We’ve had situations where people send in payments, they never get cashed, and all of a sudden there’s additional penalties and interest.”

Brewer said he has been advising his clients to file and pay electronically, make sure their returns are complete and accurate, and arrange for their refunds to be deposited directly in their bank accounts. Above all, he said, make sure you get the return in as soon as possible.

Taxpayers can check their refund status using the IRS’ Where’s My Refund? tool online, and via the IRS2GO app. Information is updated once a day. Those who e-file should be able to see their status within 24 hours, while those who file a paper return may have to wait up to four weeks.

However, for those organizations and businesses filing more complicated returns, experts say the impact of the layoffs is...also more complicated.

Most of the fired workers were focused on compliance, which includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code and paying delinquent debts, among other duties.

Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, also told the Associated Press that the layoffs could be a “disaster for revenue" that will harm the agency's plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers.

“When you underpay and understaff the IRS, the agency doesn’t have the power or the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax evaders with their high-priced lawyers," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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