IRS says it's back to normal, post-shutdown

Samuel Corum/Bloomberg

With the federal government shutdown over, the Internal Revenue Service announced on Friday that it has resumed normal operations.

While some functions of the agency — including preparing for the upcoming tax season — had continued throughout the shutdown, most were limited after the first week, and restarting them will require extra effort, particularly in terms of catching up on backlogged correspondence.

The IRS has created a number of FAQs offering information on various aspects of operations that were impacted by the shutdown, and how they will be restarted:

• Audits. IRS employees returned to work on Nov. 13 and have begun checking mail, voice messages, and audit and collection files. Tax pros or taxpayers who sent materials to an examiner can expect to hear from them, though it may take several business days. Those who were waiting to send in materials because of the shutdown can submit them immediately, or call their examiner to discuss the situation. IRS examiners will also begin reaching out to reschedule appointments that were cancelled due to the shutdown. For more, see the Exam resumption FAQs.
• Cancelled appointments. With Taxpayer Assistance Centers reopening, tax professionals and taxpayers can use the SMART Scheduler feature on IRS.gov to reschedule some TAC appointments that had been cancelled because of the shutdown. Tax pros can also check the Processing status for tax forms page for current processing status and what to expect for certain tax form types.
• Collections. The agency continued sending out notices of deficiency during the shutdown, and returns and payments still needed to be sent in; in most cases, it doesn't expect that there will be any abatements for failure-to-pay or failure-to-file penalties. For more information, see the Collections resumption FAQs.
• Appeals. Appeals officers are currently going through their backlogged mail and voicemail, and will begin reaching out to tax pros and taxpayers "as soon as possible" with updates or to reschedule cancelled appointments, according to the IRS. For more, see the Appeals resumption FAQs.
• Tax-Exempt and Government Entities. The IRS announced that it is back to processing determination letter and voluntary compliance statement applications for retirement plans; applications for tax-exempt status; and Forms 8038-CP, "Return for Credit Payments to Issuers of Qualified Bonds."
• Taxpayer Advocate Service. TAS offices were closed during the shutdown, but they are now all open — though it will take them some time go through their backlogs of calls and faxes so they determine which cases to deal with first.

(Read more: "Former IRS commissioners see challenges for agency.")