Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Pat Toomey
Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Pat Toomey and Senate Finance Committee Republicans wrote to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Chuck Rettig raising concerns and questions about the IRS’s destruction of an estimated 30 million paper-filed documents in March 2021 reportedly due to a backlog in processing paper documents. A Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report brought the IRS’s destruction of the paperwork to light.
Despite repeated requests from Congress for the IRS to exercise taxpayer penalty relief due to pandemic-related problems, the agency never disclosed that among the measures taken to reduce the backlog was the decision to destroy 30 million information returns.
From the letter:
“The information disclosed in the May 4 TIGTA report has surprised many in Congress and in the tax community. The destruction of documents ensuring taxpayers did not underreport income or inflate a deduction is concerning. It also raises questions about the IRS’s ability to administer the tax code and ensure compliance.”
The senators ask the IRS to clarify the potential damage to tax administration this destruction will cause, as well as who made the decision, how the IRS will address the consequences this decision will have for taxpayers and the potential harm to tax revenues.
Read the full letter, signed by all Senate Finance Committee Republican members, below.