According to Erin M. Collins, National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS is currently “drowning in paper”.  “As of late December 2021, there was a backlog of 6 million original paper individual returns, 2.3 million amended individual returns, 2 million Forms 941 and 941X, and approximately 5 million items of taxpayer correspondence”.   ” All told, the IRS took an average of 199 days during 2021 to process the 6.2 million taxpayer responses to proposed tax adjustments. In fiscal 2019, that average time was 74 days”. ” To its credit, however, the IRS deployed new programs mandated by Congress, issuing 478 million economic impact payments totaling $812 billion and over $93 billion in advance child tax credits to more than 36 million families, Collins noted. Moreover, it did so while its workforce was 17% lower than in fiscal 2010″.