IRS Promises Destruction of Tax Forms Won’t Lead to Penalties

Taxpayers won’t be subject to penalties as a result of the IRS’s destruction of millions of paper-filed tax forms last year, the agency said in a statement Thursday.

“There were no negative taxpayer consequences as a result of this action,” the agency said. “Taxpayers or payers have not been and will not be subject to penalties resulting from this action.”

The statement comes after the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration prominently mentioned in a report issued Monday that the IRS had destroyed about 30 million paper-filed information returns in March 2021, prompting outrage from tax professionals. TIGTA initially reported ...