IRS Suspends Income Verification Tool, Slowing Loan Process

The IRS temporarily suspended an online tool for verifying borrower income, which could complicate government efforts to process the coming flood of small business loan and other applications seeking new coronavirus relief.

Lenders, including mortgage lenders and small business lenders, use the IRS’s Income Verification Express Service (IVES) program to confirm a potential borrower’s income when processing a loan application. The system allows a handful of lenders or service providers to lenders, such as credit reporting giant Equifax, to receive expedited tax transcripts from the IRS, generally within two to three business days.

The IRS said it is ...