IRS commissioner: You still have to file taxes during shutdown

With the government funded for only the next 2½ days, the IRS commissioner had a simple message for taxpayers: You still have to file. And do it electronically. 

At a National Press Club lunch, Doug Shulman, the IRS commissioner, said that people who file electronically during a shutdown would likely not face any delays in having their returns – and potential refunds – processed. 

But taxpayers who file by paper, Shulman added, may see some delays. 

“We’ve got a 100,000 employees. Not all of them are going to be coming to work. But we’re going to have a complement here,” Shulman said. “The nuances of who is going to be doing what I’m not ready to get into. The most important thing for people to know is: We’re going to be accepting tax returns and people should file.”

The deadline to file federal taxes this year is April 18. The IRS also recently reported that nearly 70 percent of taxpayers filed electronically in 2010.

In a question-and-answer session Wednesday, the commissioner reiterated many of the points he made last week to a House panel: that, even though top officials have stressed the goal is to avoid such an outcome, a government shutdown during the middle of tax season would be challenging for his agency.

An Obama administration spokesman struck a similar tone to Shulman on Wednesday, telling reporters in a briefing that the IRS would not process paper returns and would suspend audits during a shutdown.