IRS is Delaying the Start of Tax Filing Until February 12th

If you're looking forward to getting your W-2s from your employer so you can file your taxes and hopefully get a return, you can still do all of that but there is a good chance you could be waiting on your return for a while. As we are finding out from The Denver Channel that the Internal Revenue Service is delaying the start of tax filing season until Friday, February 12, 2021.

The start of tax filing season is typically the end of January. The IRS is saying the reason for the delay is because they want to put additional work into programming and testing their systems of operation after there were law changes that took place on December 27th as well as the second round of direct stimulus payments to American citizens.

To most people this is an easy decision, let's slow down and make sure everything is working correctly so everyone gets their correct refund amount in a timely manner once the tax filing season begins in February.

It is important to mention that the IRS is also requesting this year that people file electronically with direct deposit as soon as they can this year, in hopes to speed up the process amid the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting many regions of the country.

The average tax return last year was just over $2,500. There are more than 150,000,000 tax returns that are expected to be filed this year, and as always the deadline to get your taxes done is Thursday, April 15, 2021.

Nine out of ten taxpayers should see their returns within 21 days of filing their returns, as long as no issues pop up.