Letter to the Honorable Charles Rettig, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service - Neal Calls on IRS to Expedite Mailing of Notifications to Non-Filers Eligible for EIPs

Letter

Dear Commissioner Rettig,
I write today to urge the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to begin notifying non-filers
eligible for economic impact payments (EIPs) immediately rather than waiting until the end
of this month. Recently, the IRS announced that it would begin sending 9 million letters
around September 24 to notify individuals who have not filed a tax return that they may be
eligible for an EIP. With so many American families in financial distress, the IRS should
have done this much sooner. For months, the IRS has had all the information it needs to
contact these individuals yet chose not to do so. Further delay is inexcusable.
In a letter to Secretary Mnuchin on July 31, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and I
expressed concern that the Administration's distribution of EIPs was incomplete and had left
behind the most economically vulnerable Americans, namely non-filers whose incomes are
too low to trigger a tax filing obligation, including those experiencing homelessness. Nearly
two months later, the IRS has announced that it finally will conduct outreach to this
population by sending 9 million letters later this month to notify individuals of the
opportunity to file for an EIP. This timing is particularly troublesome because individuals
only have until October 15 to register on the IRS's non-filer portal to receive an EIP.
Otherwise, they will have to wait until 2021 to receive their EIPs.
Given that the IRS is using information it has had in its possession for months, and
years in some cases, to identify and contact these individuals, it is inexplicable that the
agency waited so long to reach out to this vulnerable population. Now, as the door is
shutting, the IRS is sending a perfunctory letter by snail mail through the weakened U.S.
Postal Service to educate individuals about emergency financial assistance to which they
have been entitled since March. I fail to understand why the information used for this
mailing was not used earlier to prepare EIP payments for these individuals.
An EIP of $1200, $2400, or more can be a lifeline for a struggling family in severe
financial distress. Therefore, I respectfully request that the IRS begin mailing these letters now, rather than in two weeks. I also request that the IRS extend the October 15 deadline for
these individuals.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

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