WASHINGTON, Feb 7, 2026, 06:23 (EST)
- IRS staffing is back near 2021 levels, the Treasury watchdog says, just as the filing season opens.
- The IRS maintains that the majority of e-filers using direct deposit still see refunds within 21 days, though refunds tied to certain credits may take longer.
- Paper filings, amended returns, and other “manual” cases are likely to bear the brunt of backlogs and delays in customer service.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is heading into the 2026 tax filing season without enough hands on deck, a Treasury watchdog cautioned. That shortfall could mean refund holdups for some taxpayers and extended wait times for assistance.
Timing is key here: the IRS has started taking 2025 income-tax returns, with some 164 million individuals expected to file before April 15. For a lot of households, refunds provide crucial cash. This year, the IRS is leaning harder on the push for electronic payments.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported in a Jan. 26 memo that IRS staffing levels, after recent workforce cuts, are back to where they stood in October 2021. Meanwhile, by December 2025, inventories awaiting processing had swelled to around 2 million—roughly 129% above what the agency saw before the pandemic.
The watchdog put the IRS’s staffing losses near 19,000 by October 2025, and roughly 8,300 of those came from crucial filing-season areas responsible for processing returns and responding to taxpayer inquiries. One processing unit had authorization to bring in 2,200 new hires for the filing season, but as of Dec. 30, only 50 had actually started. Training for those new employees runs 60 to 80 days.
“The service is facing historic shortages, so there are just fewer people handling what’s probably an even bigger workload,” Erica Mariani, a tax manager with AlphaCore Wealth Advisory, told Axios.
According to the watchdog, slowdowns will hit hardest with exceptions—think paper filings, amended returns, and those cases stuck in identity verification or flagged for mismatched income forms. The IRS, meanwhile, cut its telephone “level of service” goal to 70%, down from last season’s 85%, so it’s bracing to answer fewer calls this year.
According to the IRS, most refunds still go out in under 21 days. E-filing coupled with direct deposit remains the quickest route, getting money directly into accounts. On Jan. 26, IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano called on taxpayers to “speed the processing of their returns by using e-file.” The agency also said it started phasing out paper refund checks on Sept. 30, 2025, following an executive order.
Taxpayers who filed for the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit are used to waiting a bit longer for their refunds. That’s down to extra eligibility checks by the IRS. According to the agency, most people opting for direct deposit—and who don’t run into other complications—should see their money land by March 2. The “Where’s My Refund?” tracker is set to show estimated deposit dates for plenty of early filers by Feb. 21.
According to CPA Practice Advisor, which puts out an annual refund timing chart, tax returns accepted on Jan. 26 might see direct-deposit refunds land as soon as Feb. 6. Later acceptance? That could mean waiting well into February or even March. The outlet reiterated these dates are just estimates, cautioning that the usual peak-season pileup and extra credit checks can drag things out.
Fox 5 DC flagged a similar trend—those who e-file might see their refunds in roughly three weeks, but anyone filing on paper or making corrections could be waiting at least four weeks, sometimes longer. The station also urged people to use official IRS tracking tools, steering them away from simply counting days on the calendar.
But those headline timelines aren’t set in stone, and with fewer staff, anyone bumped into manual review faces even more risk of delays. The watchdog flagged a surge in inventories after the autumn government shutdown, also noting that holdups mean the IRS has to shell out interest payments; as of Nov. 30, 2025, individuals had collected over $2.6 billion in interest from the agency.
“Straightforward tax returns, especially e-filed returns with direct deposit that do not get flagged for review, are typically less likely to experience service issues,” said Chris Mallon, a financial advisor at The Capstone Planning Group. Mallon and other tax pros are telling filers to compare W-2s and 1099s to what’s on their return—simple, but it helps prevent refunds from winding up in limbo.
