The Internal Revenue Service is looking to hire 10,000 workers as it fights a mounting backlog of tax returns that have built up during the COVID pandemic.

According to the Washington Post, the IRS has a backlog of nearly 24 million tax returns, with the majority of them from the 2020 tax season. The deadline for filing individual tax returns for 2021 is April 18, 2022.

As part of an effort to address the backlog, the IRS was given the approval to accelerate the recruitment process and fill more than 80 different positions within the agency ranging from tax attorneys to entry-level clerical workers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal, the IRS pays a minimum of $15.61 an hour, making it a challenge to compete with the higher minimum wages that Target, Costco, Amazon, and other companies currently offer.

Adding to the IRS’ challenges is the outdated technology the agency uses and the piles of paperwork that make it difficult for the IRS to offer remote work to employees, the Journal’s report said.

The IRS’ budget has also been reduced by 23% since 2010, according to the Tax Policy Center, while its workload has increased by 19% since that time, Erin Collins, a national taxpayer advocate, who tracks workload by the number of individual returns filed, told Business Insider.

IRS officials told the Journal that they don’t expect to reach normal levels until the end of the year, and the sooner they can hire the workers they need, the sooner they can alleviate the backlog of tax returns they are facing.

Income Tax Return
A copy of a IRS 1040 tax form is seen at an H&R Block office on the day Donald Trump signed the Republican tax cut bill in Washington, DC on December 22, 2017 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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