IR-2013-100, Dec. 18, 2013
The Internal Revenue Service today announced plans to
open the 2014 filing season on Jan. 31 and encouraged taxpayers to use e-file or Free File as the fastest way to receive refunds.
The new opening date for individuals to file their 2013 tax returns
will allow the IRS adequate time to program and test its tax processing
systems. The annual process for updating IRS systems saw significant
delays in October following the 16-day federal government closure.
“Our teams have been working hard throughout the fall to prepare for
the upcoming tax season,” IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel said.
“The late January opening gives us enough time to get things right with
our programming, testing and systems validation. It’s a complex process,
and our bottom-line goal is to provide a smooth filing and refund
process for the nation’s taxpayers.”
The government closure meant the IRS had to change the original
opening date from Jan. 21 to Jan. 31, 2014. The 2014 date is one day
later than the 2013 filing season opening, which started on Jan. 30,
2013, following January tax law changes made by Congress on Jan. 1 under
the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA). The extensive set of ATRA tax
changes affected many 2012 tax returns, which led to the late January
opening.
The IRS noted that several options are available to help taxpayers
prepare for the 2014 tax season and get their refunds as easily as
possible. New year-end tax planning information has been added to
IRS.gov this week.
In addition, many software companies are expected to begin accepting
tax returns in January and hold those returns until the IRS systems open
on Jan. 31. More details will be available in January.
The IRS cautioned that it will not process any tax returns before
Jan. 31, so there is no advantage to filing on paper before the opening
date. Taxpayers will receive their tax refunds much faster by using
e-file or Free File with the direct deposit option.
The April 15 tax deadline is set by statute and will remain in place.
However, the IRS reminds taxpayers that anyone can request an automatic
six-month extension to file their tax return. The request is easily
done with Form 4868, which can be filed electronically or on paper.
IRS systems, applications and databases must be updated annually to
reflect tax law updates, business process changes and programming
updates in time for the start of the filing season.
The October closure came during the peak period for preparing IRS
systems for the 2014 filing season. Programming, testing and deployment
of more than 50 IRS systems is needed to handle processing of nearly 150
million tax returns. Updating these core systems is a complex,
year-round process with the majority of the work beginning in the fall
of each year.
About 90 percent of IRS operations were closed during the shutdown,
with some major work streams closed entirely during this period, putting
the IRS nearly three weeks behind its tight timetable for being ready
to start the 2014 filing season. There are additional training,
programming and testing demands on IRS systems this year in order to
provide additional refund fraud and identity theft detection and
prevention.
Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we
inform you that, to the extent any advice relating to a Federal tax issue is
contained in this communication, including in any attachments, it was not
written or intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (a)
avoiding any tax related penalties that may be imposed on you or any other
person under the Internal Revenue Code, or (b) promoting, marketing or
recommending to another person any transaction or matter addressed in this
communication
No comments:
Post a Comment