STATUS OF MISSION-CRITICAL FUNCTIONS:

The mission critical page on irs.gov has been updated and includes the following highlights:

• As of February 18, 2023, we had 2 million unprocessed individual returns. These include tax year 2022 returns, 2021 returns that need review or correction and late filed prior year returns. Of these, 1.79 million returns require error correction or other special handling, and 206,000 are paper returns waiting to be reviewed and processed. This work does not typically require us to correspond with taxpayers, but it does require special handling by an IRS employee, so in these instances it is taking the IRS more than 21 days to issue any related refund. 
• As of February 18, 2023, we had 503,000 unprocessed Forms 1040-X. We are processing these returns in the order received and the current timeframe can be more than 20 weeks. Please don't file the same return more than once. Taxpayers should continue to check Where's My Amended Return?for the most up to date processing status available.
• As of February 23, 2023, we had 2.2 million unprocessed Forms 941. If you filed electronically and received an acknowledgement, you do not need to take any further action other than promptly responding to any requests for information. These tax returns are processed in the order received. Please don’t file a second tax return.
• As of February 22, 2023, our total inventory of unprocessed Forms 941-X was approximately 651,000, some of which cannot be processed until the related 941s are processed. While not all of these returns involve a COVID-19 credit, the inventory is being worked at two sites (Cincinnati and Ogden) that have trained staff to work possible COVID-19 credits.
• The biggest bottleneck right now is identity theft case processing. On average it is taking about 430 days to resolve these cases. The IRS is committed to resolving identity theft cases as quickly as possible and steps are being taken to reduce this timeframe to 120 days or less. In the meantime, please encourage your clients to GET AN IP PIN!
• The IRS is currently processing Form W-7s that were received in December 2022. Eligible taxpayers who need to obtain or renew an ITIN may submit Form W-7 and the related tax return and documentation now if they have not previously filed.

Sent a Third-Party Authorization or Power of Attorney Form (updated February 21, 2023)

How long you may have to wait: Currently, we cannot provide a timeframe. Submissions through mail, fax, or online submission platform are processed in the order in which they are received.

What you should do: Please consider the significant additional approval time and plan for it.Do not submit duplicate authorizations. Duplicate filings will only cause more delays.

Consider filing Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, and 8821, Tax Information Authorization, online through Tax Pro Account. Tax Pro Account allows individual tax professionals who have a previously assigned Centralized Authorization Number (CAF) Number to securely request authorizations online in lieu of mailing or faxing paper forms. Once necessary steps are completed and approved, the authorization is automatically loaded to the CAF Database.

The Submit Forms 2848 and 8821 Online tool allows both Form 2848 and Form 8821 authorizations containing electronic signatures to be securely uploaded online, but it still requires manual processing.