Tax Season to Start on Time
On December 29th, 2014 IRS announced that they expect tax season to start on time. Congress passed the 2014 tax extenders act in time for IRS to meet its originally planned start date of January 20, 2015. Both electronic and paper returns will be accepted beginning then. Some taxpayers may still have to wait if they have special situations that software vendors are still programming into tax preparation software.
President signs Tax Extenders Act
While we were away for the holidays, President Obama signed the 2014 tax extenders act on December 19th. The act is formally known as the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 and is also known as H.R. 5771 which is how the press release in the prior link refers to it.
Budget cuts may still affect tax season
Politico and other news media reported IRS Commissioner Koskinen warned that the IRS may “have to shut the place down” due to the cuts to IRS’ budget made in the recently passed spending bill. They also report that Koskinen ordered a suspension of overtime and a hiring freeze. While Congress is punishing IRS with budget cuts, they are also penalizing innocent taxpayers for the wrongs committed by IRS. For more on the budget cuts, read Joe Kristan, CPA’s post – “If you think I’m unsympathetic to Commissioner Koskinen’s pleas of IRS poverty ….”
Hopefully, these changes will not delay refunds during tax season and beyond.