In what even the U.S. Treasury says will be a frustrating tax season, families claiming the child tax credit and newly self-employed Americans are among filers likely to see the biggest challenges this year.
The season starts Monday, and while Internal Revenue Service teams have been working “non-stop” for several months, years of funding and personnel cutbacks, along with a backlog of several million tax returns from previous years, will hamper the agency’s abilities to respond as swiftly as in the past.
With slim chances of reaching the IRS by phone, recipients of the child tax credit may face particular issues. Half of the up-to $3,600 credit per child for 2021 was already distributed via monthly payouts, meaning the credit should be half the size of last year’s. Taxpayers will also need to report the dollar amount for what they already got in 2021 — as stated on a mailed IRS form that they might or might not have received, opened and saved.
