The ongoing government shutdown is leaving federal employees without pay, keeping national parks unattended, and generally causing problems. Because of the chaos, people are starting to get nervous about the possibility that the shutdown will not end any time soon. This is bad news for people who depend upon their annual tax returns for various reasons. The IRS is another government agency that is certainly affected by the shutdown, so people are reasonably worried that they will not be getting their tax refunds on time.
There is some conflicting news on what exactly will happen, however many White house and IRS officials say the shutdown will not affect anyone. It was announced by a Trump Administration official on Monday that the IRS will remain open to collect and refund taxes, despite having to put many of their employees on hold because of the shutdown. The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget stated that refunds will be sent out if the shutdown continues. According to the IRS, the shutdown will not affect people’s tax returns and are encouraging everyone to file them, but are stating that more information will come out in the next few days surrounding their shutdown contingency plan.
However, there have been other reports from both CNN and the Wall Street Journal that refunds are not normally sent out during government shutdowns. The issues surrounding this controversy are only exacerbated by new tax codes that are to be introduced this year. The IRS will be accepting filings on January 28th for the tax season, and hopefully solutions come about before anyone is affected by the shutdown more than they already have been.
