30 Million Taxpayer Paper Filed Tax Returns Destroyed

IRS Encourages Modernization Of Electronic Filings: 30 Million Taxpayer Paper Filed Tax Returns Destroyed

According to the Inspector General’s audit, the IRS destroyed 30 million paper documents while millions of taxpayers are waiting for tax refunds.

The IRS has taken a number of actions and developed initiatives in an effort to increase e-filing. Furthermore, legislative requirements have resulted and will continue to result in increases in e-filing. The
backlogs of paper tax and information return to be processed along
with the inability to ship paper tax returns and/or retrieve paper tax
returns from Federal Records Centers due to the pandemic
demonstrate the need for the IRS to develop a Service-wide strategy to further increase e-filing. However, the IRS does not have a Service-wide strategy that identifies, prioritizes, and provides a
timeline for the addition of tax forms for e-filing nor an accurate and
comprehensive list of tax forms not available to e-file.