Rep. Richard Neil (D-Mass.), the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, has urged the IRS to stop sending taxpayers past due notices until the agency has cleared its backlog of mail to at least pre-pandemic levels. The Congress member was responding to recent reports that the IRS, because it hasn't yet cleared its large backlog of mail that  accumulated during the pandemic, has been sending past due notices to those who already made their payments when offices were closed. This was the second time this year the that agency has done so for a similar reason

"These notices impose unnecessary stress on taxpayers who, upon receipt, must contact the IRS for assistance. This is particularly troubling at a time when the IRS is telling taxpayers who need to call the agency “to expect long waits due to limited staffing," said the congressman in his letter, noting that, at one point this summer, the IRS had some 12 million pieces of unopened mail.

The IRS should stop sending out notices until this is addressed, he added. Neil suggested that the IRS consider establishing a portal through which taxpayers can alert the IRS that they have mailed payments since the beginning of March. Such portal could assist the IRS in preventing additional incorrect notices from being sent to taxpayers who have already mailed payments, he added.