Date Set for Start of Tax Season

The IRS announced that the filing season for 2013 income tax returns will begin on January 31, 2014. This is about a week or two later than usual. The government shutdown in October limited IRS work on getting ready for the filing season. However, remember that last year’s filing season started late, too—January 30—because of the late enactment of legislation needed to clarify certain rules for 2012 returns.

You don’t have to wait until January 31 to prepare your return. Some software companies will accept returns earlier than January 31 and hold them for submission when the IRS is ready to receive them. But mailing a paper return to the IRS before January 31 won’t speed up a refund; the IRS won’t begin to process any returns—paper or electronic—before January 31.

Source: IR-2013-100