Lawmakers seek answers from IRS following Tax Day systems glitch

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee is asking the IRS questions about the technical difficulties that led the agency to extend the tax-filing deadline.

“While we were relieved that the IRS resumed operations of the impacted, electronic services by the end of Tax Day and provided a deadline extension to taxpayers, we would like to understand how this significant disruption of service transpired,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the IRS on Tuesday. “Our hope is that this will not reoccur in the future.”

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On April 17, the original tax deadline, the IRS said it had technical difficulties relating to systems that allow taxpayers to pay their taxes online. As a result, the agency gave taxpayers an additional day to file their returns.

The lawmakers are pressing the IRS for answers to a series of questions about the delay by May 4, including whether there were any software issues in addition to a hardware failure, the age of the technology that failed, how the IRS identified and fixed the issue and whether any taxpayer data was compromised.

The lawmakers noted that if the IRS had been forced to transition to a backup system, it could have taken several days and caused confusion at the height of the tax-filing season.

“We look forward to working together to ensure that the IRS provides the highest level of service to American taxpayers throughout the year and especially on Tax Day,” the lawmakers wrote.

Ways and Means Committee members that signed the letter include Oversight subcommittee chairwoman Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), subcommittee ranking member John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.).