IRS is recalling 46,000 workers to handle tax returns WITHOUT PAY as Trump promises no refund delays

The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown to handle tax returns and pay out refunds, but won’t be paying IRS workers while the federal freeze due to a dispute between Congress and the president over funding for a border wall continues.

With the official start of the tax filing season coming on January 28, President Donald Trump’s administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time, despite the disruption in government services caused by the partial shutdown now in its fourth week.

There had been growing concern that the shutdown would delay refunds worth hundreds of billions of dollars because the money wouldn’t be available for them from Congress.

But last week, the administration said customary shutdown policies will be reversed to make the money available to pay refunds on time.

But at least for now, it’s going to take unpaid labor from 60 percent of the IRS’s work force to get that ball rolling. 

The shutdown is now in its 25th day, surpassing the previous record for the longest shutdown by four days, which lasted for three weeks at the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996 under President Bill Clinton. 

The IRS is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown to handle tax returns and pay out refunds, but won’t be paying the additional workers while the federal freeze due to a dispute between Congress and President Donald Trump over funding for a border wall continues. Trump is pictured addressing the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday

About three-quarters of US taxpayers receive annual refunds, giving them an incentive to file their returns early.

Many lower-income people count on refunds as their biggest cash infusion of the year. Overall, refunds average $2,800.

An IRS document detailing its new shutdown plan shows that 46,052 agency employees will be called back to work, of the total workforce of 80,265, to help ensure people don’t have to wait longer than expected for those checks.

It says the plan will take effect as soon as the Treasury Department issues an official notice.On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected a legal challenge brought by the union representing IRS objecting to the agency recalling workers without pay

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected a legal challenge brought by the union representing IRS objecting to the agency recalling workers without pay. In this file photo from April 8, 2005, Kathleen Malone works on tax returns at the Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington, Kentucky

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected a legal challenge brought by the union representing IRS objecting to the agency recalling workers without pay. In this file photo from April 8, 2005, Kathleen Malone works on tax returns at the Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington, Kentucky

Some experts question whether the administration has the legal authority to reverse earlier policies to allow the government to issue tax refunds during a shutdown. In this file photo from April 8, 2005, Mary Kersey transcribes data from tax returns at the Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington, Kentucky

Some experts question whether the administration has the legal authority to reverse earlier policies to allow the government to issue tax refunds during a shutdown. In this file photo from April 8, 2005, Mary Kersey transcribes data from tax returns at the Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington, Kentucky

Only about 10,000 IRS employees had previously been deemed essential and have been working.

Angered over employees having to work without pay, the union representing IRS staff sued in federal court last week to challenge any such agency action on constitutional grounds.

The Constitution doesn’t allow the government to obligate funds that haven’t been provided by Congress, and the executive branch ‘can’t continue to force more and more employees to show up in exchange only for an IOU,’ the National Treasury Employees Union said.

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected the union’s challenge, declining to force the government to pay the recalled employees.

Some 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or have been working without pay since the government shutdown began. 

Trump didn’t budge on Tuesday from his demand to have Congress provide $5.7 billion to build his promised border wall with Mexico, which is the impetus for the freeze.

Democrats say they will discuss border security once the government has reopened, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is refusing money for the wall that Democrats view as ineffective and immoral.

The financial issues at hand are politically sensitive in more ways than one.

The massive tax law enacted by Republicans in Congress in late 2017, which is Trump’s signature legislative achievement, gave generous tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans and more modest reductions to middle- and low-income households.

The law is expected to bring lower taxes for 2018 for the great majority of Americans, and the refunds are a big tangible part of that.

Trump told supporters on a conference call on Tuesday that his administration has been working to minimize the painful impacts of the shutdown.

‘People are actually amazed that, with this many people, that government is really working so well. So we’re very proud of that,’ he said.

Some experts question whether the administration has the legal authority to reverse earlier policies to allow the government to issue tax refunds during a shutdown.

In 2011, the chief counsel at the IRS concluded that such payments were legally allowed during a shutdown. 

At the time, the White House Office of Management and Budget, under President Barack Obama, rejected that position and directed the IRS not to pay refunds during a shutdown.

But the IRS said last week that OMB had reviewed the issue at the Treasury’s Department’s request and now agrees with the IRS counsel’s position that refunds can legally be paid.

But the IRS said last week that OMB had reviewed the issue at the Treasury's Department's request and now agrees with the IRS counsel's position that refunds can legally be paid. This March 22, 2013 file photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington

But the IRS said last week that OMB had reviewed the issue at the Treasury’s Department’s request and now agrees with the IRS counsel’s position that refunds can legally be paid. This March 22, 2013 file photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington

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