September 3, 2024 - IRS Backlog of Deceased Taxpayer Refunds

The IRS has acknowledged that it had a significant backlog of unprocessed tax forms and refunds claimed on behalf of deceased taxpayers but has taken steps to resolve the issue. National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in her blog that the backlog was the result of paper Forms 1310, Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer, received for 2022 and 2023 not being properly processed by the IRS. The IRS has prioritized its processing of Forms 1310 and only had about 1,100 unprocessed returns at the beginning of August.

While the IRS has added Form 1310 to its modernized e-file platform, not all Forms 1310 are supported, and some require paper filing. Unfortunately, the Forms 1310 filed for 2022 and 2023 were not properly processed. If a Form 1310 is unprocessed, the IRS can't process the associated final return and issue a refund. Because the IRS must manually issue a refund once the Form 1310 has been processed, there were significant delays in issuing the refunds for 2022 and 2023. The IRS has identified the cause of the issue and worked to decrease the backlog of unprocessed Forms 1310 and manually issue the associated refunds.