IRS pushes back start of tax filing season

By Ann Carrns, The New York Times Company

The start of tax filing season is postponed by a couple of weeks this year, but the government says it expects to pay most refunds reasonably quickly.

Typically, the IRS begins accepting and processing individual income tax returns in late January. But the agency has pushed back the start of filing to Feb. 12 for 2020 tax returns.

The shift was needed, the IRS said, to allow the agency to update and test its systems to reflect late-year tax changes approved by Congress, including a second round of stimulus payments.

The IRS has struggled in recent years with reduced budgets that have forced it to make do with fewer workers and outdated computer systems. During the pandemic, it has also had the extra work of distributing stimulus checks.

The agency is still wading through 2019 tax returns, particularly those filed on paper. As of Dec. 25, there were still nearly 7 million unprocessed individual returns from tax year 2019, according to the IRS website.

via NEW YORK TIMES