Good luck getting help on your taxes this season–and don’t count on a prompt refund.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told reporters Thursday they may have to temporarily shut down due to some reluctant belt-tightening—a $10.9 billion budget is just not enough. Congress trimmed $346 million off their annual budget, which was $1.5 billion less than the IRS had requested.
This would potentially delay tax refunds, and leave around half of all calls to the IRS this filing season unanswered.
“Everybody’s return will get processed,” Koskinen said. “But people have gotten very used to being able to file their return and quickly getting a refund. This year we may not have the resources, the people to provide refunds as quickly as we have in the past.”
Koskinen said they would shut down for “a day, two days, whatever days it would take to close the gap that we can’t otherwise close in a reasonable way.”
The agency will also have a hiring freeze and no overtime, Politico reports.
Part of the problem, according to Koskinen, is the mandatory one percent federal employee raise they will have to pay, despite the cuts.
“It’s not just the $350 million cut in the budget; it’s the fact that we have $250 million in new expenses for a government-wide pay raise. … So we really have a $600 million hole this year,” he said.
The IRS will also be kept busy dealing with changes to tax returns caused by Obamacare.
A shutdown would be “the last option,” but “there is no way we can say right now that that wont happen,” said Koskinen.
Perhaps he could use his down time to work on backing up his emails?
