National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins escalated her push for the IRS to adopt barcode scanning of paper tax returns, which she directed the agency to implement by 2023, by appealing its “disappointing” response.
Collins described the developments in a blog post on Thursday, Aug. 4, on the Taxpayer Advocate Service’s website. In a memo to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Collins thanked IRS employees for their tireless efforts to overcome the agency’s backlog of paper returns but emphasized the need for even more technology advancement.
Earlier this year, Collins directed the IRS to expedite the processing of tax returns prepared with tax software but filed on paper by working with return software providers to develop a plan for the companies to voluntarily place 2D barcodes on returns prepared with their products, beginning during the 2023 filing season.
She further directed the IRS to develop a plan to implement systems to automate the processing of these returns by the start of the 2023 or 2024 filing season. The IRS declined the directives regarding the implementation of scanning technology. Learn more.