Thanks to the pandemic and the push to get stimulus payments out quickly, the 2021 federal tax filing season will start a little late this year.
The IRS on Friday said it would begin accepting federal tax returns on February 12. Normally, tax filing season begins in the second half of January, CNN reported.
Pushing it back a few weeks allows the IRS time to do additional programming and testing of IRS systems following the December 27 tax law changes that provided a second round of Economic Impact Payments and other benefits, the agency said.
The IRS notes, however, that people working with tax software companies, including IRS Free File partners, may prepare their returns now and they will be transmitted to the IRS starting February 12.