The Internal Revenue Service had already dropped a bombshell in recent news when they announced that some taxpayers will face a delay in receiving their tax refund with the deadline to file taxes being on April 18th. Recently, the IRS just announced that the next tax season will officially begin on January 23, 2017.
The IRS predicts that 153 million individual tax returns will be filed next year, with 75% of those being submitted electronically using tax software. With that being said, taxpayers can begin submitting electronic tax returns on January 23rd. You can also submit returns to tax preparers before the official start date. That way, when January 23rd comes around the corner, they will be able to submit it to the IRS’ system.
During this upcoming tax season, as mentioned before, taxpayers who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, or the Additional Child Tax Credit, should expect a slight delay of just a few days to receive their tax return. If you fall into this category, your return will be held until at least February 15th. Unfortunately, if you count the holidays during the month of February, and the weekends, you may not be swimming in cash until late February.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen urges all taxpayers to plan ahead when planning a date and time to file their taxes. He encourages all taxpayers to hold onto their prior-year tax returns for 3 years at a minimum. This is due to the fact that many taxpayers will be switching things up by using different tax software programs this tax season, and that may require their gross adjusted income from 2015 to file electronically. Anyone looking forward to using the electronic filing pin for this filing season is out of luck, since it is no longer an option.
The filing deadline this year doesn’t fall on April 15th as it usually does, it falls on Tuesday April 18th, 2017. This is due to the fact that April 15th is on a Saturday this year, and the Monday after is Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia. In the meantime, Koskinen, and the rest of the IRS are preparing for more than 150 million returns this year. “Our systems require extensive programming and testing beforehand”, he states.
Identity theft and tax refund fraud is a big issue for the IRS that they are working tirelessly to prevent. They are constantly adding new procedures to reduce this issue and continue the progress they have made in previous years regarding identity theft and tax refund fraud.
Although this filing season is seeing a few changes being made, it is still best for all taxpayers to file their taxes the way they regularly file them. Just remember that January 23rd is when it all begins, and April 18th is when it all ends.