Paper Tax Returns Backlog cleared by IRS

(Washington, DC) -- The IRS says a big backlog of paper tax returns has been cleared.

The department credits new funding in helping it buy new scanning technology that allowed the paper returns from previous years to processed more quickly by digitizing them.

The IRS also said this year's tax filing season is the first "normal" one they are completing since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

A backlog of 23-and-a-half-million individual and business tax returns piled up by February of last year after the pandemic caused filing delays and staffing shortages.

The 2023 deadline for tax returns has passed, unless you filed for an extension. In that case, your taxes are due by October 16th.