The IRS will likely begin accepting income tax returns in the upcoming filing season with “no significant delays,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the AICPA National Tax Conference in Washington on Tuesday.Return filing can begin “certainly before the end of January,” Koskinen said, although he did not announce an exact date.The IRS’s ability to start tax season on time partly reflects that the current run-up to tax season, unlike previous ones, is not hampered by uncertainty surrounding the fate of the retroactive extension of expired tax provisions, thanks to the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 (part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, P.L. 114-113).However, for some taxpayers, Koskinen said, the PATH Act will mean delays in receiving refunds. Due to a change to Sec. 6402(m), starting in 2017, refunds for returns claiming an earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit cannot be issued before Feb. 15. Despite this statutorily mandated delay, Koskinen urged return preparers to submit returns as they usually do, and not hold them until after Feb. 15, because that will only put the returns further back in the queue.
Source: No delays anticipated in 2017 tax filing season, IRS commissioner says