The IRS announced that it was moving back the beginning of tax filing season due to the government shutdown. Apparently, workers finalizing tax forms and systems for the end of the 2013 tax year and getting them ready for the 2014 filing season were not part of the essential government workers that kept working during the recent government shutdown. As a result, the IRS is about two weeks behind on getting ready for the tax filing season.
The original date when taxpayers were first allowed to file tax returns was supposed to be January 21, 2014. However, after having basically making no progress during the 16-day shutdown, that date is being moved back. Although no official date has been set for when the IRS will begin accepting 2014 returns, the agency announced a “one- to two-week delay.” That means that the earliest date would be January 28, 2014 and the latest start date would be February 4, 2014.
The delay is not due to big changes to paper forms, but rather to ensuring that the electronic systems for filing, as well as the electronic tax preparer data provided to firms like TurboTax, are up to date. In addition, the IRS has numerous checks and verifications on submissions that must all be updated. For example, your signed by date needs to occur in 2014, and not 2013. There are hundreds, or maybe thousands of these little changes that must be made, verified and tested before being put into production. Unlike the Obamacare website, the government takes collecting your money very, very seriously.
The official notice says that the IRS will announce the actual start date for filing in December, so for now, all taxpayers have is a notice that there will be a short delay.
Just a reminder that your October 15, deadlines for either filing extensions or quarterly tax payments were not postponed, even though they probably just piled up in a mailroom somewhere. The Post Office was still running and that postmark is still required.