MD Delegation Members Call on IRS to Expedite Tax Refunds
Congressman Steny H. Hoyer and other members of the Maryland delegation are concerned with the Internal Revenue Service’s procedures for expedited processing of federal tax returns from taxpayers facing financial challenges.
In a letter to IRS Commissioner Billy Long, the lawmakers point to accounts from constituents showing that the IRS consistently fails to process the returns of constituents who have shown imminent risk of dire financial consequences in a timely manner – impeding taxpayers’ ability to avoid those consequences.
The lawmakers’ impacted constituents include individual taxpayers as well as business owners – many of whom have been waiting several years for refunds they are owed.
Noting that the mass layoffs of federal employees at the IRS have likely contributed to these processing delays, the lawmakers ask Commissioner Long to coordinate with the Taxpayer Advocate Service on solutions to handle financial hardship cases more efficiently to prevent taxpayers from facing avoidable financial harm.
The other lawmakers signing the letter are US Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and US Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, Glenn Ivey, Sarah Elfreth, April McClain Delaney, and Johnny Olszewski.
“We are writing on behalf of our constituents regarding expedited processing for emergency cases involving severe financial hardship, especially amidst recently exacerbated IRS staffing challenges. Currently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will only accept expedite requests from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) if the taxpayer can provide documentation of an immediate consequence,” the lawmakers began. “By the time a constituent has the required hardship documentation to expedite their case, they typically have 30 days at most before they and their families face serious distress, including homelessness.”
They go on to write, “Once TAS receives the required financial hardship documentation and makes a recommendation to the IRS to expedite, there is currently no mechanism to ensure that the taxpayer’s case is handled with urgency. For example, in a recent Maryland case, a single mother of three submitted hardship documentation to TAS in September 2024, but she did not receive her federal tax refund until February 2025. As you might imagine, our constituents in these particular cases do not have several months to wait for a check that is owed to them by the federal government.”
A copy of the letter is available here.
Congressman Hoyer is chair of the Regional Leadership Council.
For more information about Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, visit his Leader member page.
