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https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pandemic-era-tax-break-keeping-the-irs-up-at-night-f139e439

The Pandemic-Era Tax Break Keeping the IRS Up at Night

The IRS is struggling to process hundreds of thousands of claims for the employee-retention tax credit amid worries about fraud

Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Wall Street Journal; iStock

By Richard Rubin

and Ruth Simon

May 20, 2023 9:00 am ET

The Internal Revenue Service has paid out more than $150 billion amid a surge of claims for an expired pandemic-era tax break for small businesses. Agency officials are wading through another roughly 800,000 returns that need processing—and more are still arriving.

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The Pandemic-Era Tax Break Keeping the IRS Up at Night

The IRS is struggling to process hundreds of thousands of claims for the employee-retention tax credit amid worries about fraud

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