IRS Will Issue Tax Refunds During Shutdown

[Swordsmyth]

Following panicked reports that the Internal Revenue Service won't issue refunds during the government shutdown, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, told reporters "Tax refunds will go out", effectively easing pressure on Trump to reach a deal.

The tax agency's previous shutdown contingency plans outlined that the IRS would accept tax returns (and payments of course) during filing season, but refunds would be delayed until government had passed a funding bill, according to Bloomberg.
The decision will naturally come as a relief to many taxpayers who file their taxes as soon as the filing season begins to claim their refund checks, which averaged $2,899 last year. Within the first week of the 2018 filing season, more than 18.3 million people claimed about $12.6 billion in refunds.
The IRS hasn’t yet announced the start date to file tax returns this year, but says it’s on track to begin in late January or early February.

The policy change also removes a major political incentive for lawmakers and the White House to reach a deal in the coming weeks. If refunds won’t be held hostage, the shutdown effects will be felt much less widely, relieving the strain on Congress and Trump to resolve the current impasse about how much money to spend on a border wall with Mexico. -Bloomberg

Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson noted that if people were unable to get their refunds, there would be "excruciating pressure" on lawmakers to reach an agreement.
And so, without the threat of pitchfork-wielding voters demanding their refunds, it looks like the pressure on Trump to reach a government shutdown deal with the just as stubborn Democrats has just been reduced substantially, and all else equal, the shutdown - which will become the longest on record in just five days, won't end any time soon.



https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...ng-white-house

[dude58677]

Just an amazing time to be alive!

[oyarde]

In that case , no reason to ever open the govt back up unless it is budget cuts . Trump can just use the current military budget to fund what he wants.

[Occam's Banana]

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

[kpitcher]

Still no details on how they will afford to bring back IRS employees to do the actual work.

I think the bigger problem is why are so many people overpaying their taxes by 3K a year? It would seem like any reasonable tax system would allow someone to figure out exactly what they owe. Oh wait, there's the answer right there.

[TheCount]

Who has the authority to pay IRS employees in the absence of an appropriations bill?

[phill4paul]

Still no details on how they will afford to bring back IRS employees to do the actual work.

Who has the authority to pay IRS employees in the absence of an appropriations bill?

The workers will be called back. They just will not receive pay until after the shutdown. Like other tax ticks.

[phill4paul]

Trump is really getting ahead on this one. This one being the shutdown and possible negative effects.. He's pulling some drunken monkey maneuvers that'll make heads spin depending how his address goes tonight.

[specsaregood]

The workers will be called back. They just will not receive pay until after the shutdown. Like other tax ticks.

Of course if they don't like it, they can quit and find a job in the productive part of the economy. I hear its roaring right now.

[TheCount]

The workers will be called back. They just will not receive pay until after the shutdown. Like other tax ticks.

And the power, water, heat, etc. that their facilities require to operate? Will that be taken on loan against future appropriations? Does the executive have the authority to do that?

[phill4paul]

And the power, water, heat, etc. that their facilities require to operate? Will that be taken on loan against future appropriations? Does the executive have the authority to do that?

Pretty sure those costs have been budgeted for. I rather doubt they just turned everything off and locked the doors in the middle of winter. It'll be alright Count. I know this shutdown has inflicted the damage on Trump you had hoped it would. What with private businesses stepping up to clean up park lands and private citizens doing the same in D.C. Not quite like the Obama shutdown when they erected barricades at Veterans memorials when no attendants were ever needed in the first place. Something just feels different about this shutdown. Could be all the MAGA.

[oyarde]

Who has the authority to pay IRS employees in the absence of an appropriations bill?

Hard to imagine they were ever laid off in the first place . Not sure I believe it . They probably all gather in some vampire colony hidden away in West Virginia or something and amp up operations .