In most cases, an original return claiming a refund must be filed within three years of its due date for the IRS to issue a refund.
The IRS, like the rest of the country, has faced more than its fair share of challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. To stem outbreaks of the virus, the IRS had to shut down its centers earlier in the pandemic and IRS employees had to be protected but piles of unprocessed returns built up.
"They have such a backlog of processing," Karl said. "The pandemic has put them in a deep hole."
On Thursday, the IRS announced that it would "suspend notices in situations where we have credited taxpayers for payments but have no record of the tax return being filed."
The IRS noted in its statement: "In many situations, the tax return may be part of our current paper tax inventory and simply hasn't been processed. Stopping these letters which could have otherwise been sent to thousands of taxpayers — will help avoid confusion."
Unfortunately, many taxpayers opened their mail already and read the notices before the IRS announced that it was halting some of these mailings.
Diana Vollmayer, of Rochester Hills, said she and her husband already mailed the copy of their 2020 return "certified/with return receipt."
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