Another Shutdown Would Be ‘Exponentially More Detrimental’

In its Thursday letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano, the AICPA stated that the consequences of a shutdown during the current filing season would be catastrophic. “The negative impacts experienced during prior government shutdowns could be exponentially more detrimental to our tax system if experienced during the current filing season, thus causing substantial harm to taxpayers and resulting in backlogs that the IRS has not experienced since the pandemic,” wrote Cheri H. Freeh, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee.

The letter expresses deep concern that taxpayers and practitioners may face “significant harm and overwhelming challenges” if the IRS operates with only a fraction of its workforce. This warning echoes a similar letter sent on September 29 ahead of the most recent shutdown, in which the AICPA cautioned that “operating with a fraction of its workforce during a government shutdown would result in a huge strain on taxpayers and practitioners.”

To dig deeper, visit the original article on the Thomson Reuters blog.