IRS Shutdown Information

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As you may have heard, the Federal Government partially shut down on December 22, 2018 due to a budget impasse between the current administration and Congress. This shutdown includes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). At the present time, the IRS has furloughed approximately 70,000 of its 80,000 employees. The non-furloughed employees (approximately 10,000) are required to report to work to maintain minimum operations.

Which operations will be suspended?

Most IRS operations and activities are suspended during the shutdown. The suspended operations and activities include:

• Issuing refunds
• Processing amended returns
• All audit functions and examinations of returns
• Processing paper tax returns
• Taxpayer services, such as answering taxpayer and tax practitioner questions
• IRS collection actions involving in-person or telephone contacts
• Many IRS information systems functions

Certain IRS activities will continue during a shutdown. These activities include completing and testing upcoming filing year programs; processing electronic returns, up to the point of refund; processing payments; and maintaining criminal law enforcement operations.

What Does The Shutdown Mean For Me?

During the shutdown, you should continue to meet your IRS filing and payment responsibilities. The IRS shutdown does not provide any exemption from legal tax filing and payment requirements. Additionally, the IRS shutdown does not impact the operations of the revenue departments at the state-level such as the Georgia Dept of Revenue.

Stay Up To Date

If the shutdown continues well into January, the Treasury Department is expected to provide additional guidance. We will provide additional information as it becomes available. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Bennett Thrasher for more information.

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