IRS Delays Start of Tax Filing Season

If you were hoping to file your taxes on January 21st so that you could get your refund sooner rather than later, you're probably not going to like this.

If you haven't heard, because of the government shutdown in October, the IRS announced  that they're pushing back the start of tax filing season from January 21st to January 31st. For people who wait until the last minute to file, this won't mean anything, but if you were planning to file as soon as possible and banking on a fast return, the extra 10 days could throw things off for you.

Traditionally, tax-filing season starts on January 21st, but sometimes the IRS pushes back the start date because of complications. You might remember that they did that last year because of changes in the tax code that Congress approved on January 1st.

The IRS says that some tax-filing companies are already accepting early tax returns and holding them until the IRS systems open on January 31st.