The Internal Revenue Service said it would delay the 2014 tax-filing season for one to two weeks because the government shutdown disrupted its computer programing and testing.
The season for filing 2013 tax returns likely will start between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4, the agency said. The April 15 deadline for filing won't be changed, but the agency noted that filers could obtain automatic six-month extensions.
The extra time for the opening of filing season is needed to program and test systems after the government shutdown. The shutdown came during a peak time for systems preparation, the agency said.
The announcement underscores the strains the shutdown placed on some government agencies. About 90% of IRS operations were halted during the shutdown. That put the agency nearly three weeks behind its timetable for starting the 2014 season, the IRS said.
The announcement also highlights the challenges the government faces in designing large computer systems. The IRS must handle almost 150 million returns each year. It planned additional training and programing this year to beef up its efforts to combat refund fraud by criminals who sometimes exploit weaknesses in the IRS systems.
"Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right," Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said in a statement. "The adjustment to the start of the filing season provides us the necessary time to program, test and validate our systems so that we can provide a smooth filing and refund process for the nation's taxpayers. We want the public and tax professionals to know about the delay well in advance so they can prepare for a later start of the filing season."
0 comments:
Post a Comment