IRS Hiring 5,000 Workers to Field Questions on Virus Payments

The IRS plans to hire about 5,000 new seasonal employees through January to work through a backlog of inquiries about the $1,200 virus relief checks the agency was tasked with issuing this spring.

The first group of new hires will be bilingual and begin in September, according to an update prepared by House Ways and Means Committee staff and based on information provided by the National Treasury Employees Union. The union represents thousands of federal workers, including IRS employees.

NTEU confirmed the details in the update. The IRS didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

The CARES Act ( ...