Where’s My Refund PATH Act Update

EITC and ACTC Refunds Expected to Arrive the Week of Feb. 27

The IRS recently sent out a press release letting all of the EITC and ACTC Tax Delay taxpayers know that their refunds should arrive by February 27th. Previously Where’s My Refund had a PATH act and then a processing message. Currently most taxpayers are seeing a tax refund date of 2/22/2017 or 2/23/2017. We estimate that all tax refund dates will be updated next week with refunds beginning Friday 2/17/2017.

WASHINGTON — As the IRS begins releasing refunds for taxpayers who claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit, the tax agency reminded taxpayers that they should not expect refunds to be available in bank accounts or on debit cards until the week of Feb. 27. The additional time is due to several factors, including weekends, the Presidents Day holiday and the time banks often need to process direct deposits.

Many of these refunds had been held since the filing season started in late January due to new requirements the 2015 Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act.

Source: IRS.gov

What is the PATH Act?

A new tax law requires the IRS to hold entire refunds of millions of taxpayers until at least Feb. 15. This law, called the PATH Act, contains provisions that help combat tax fraud and may impact approximately 15 million taxpayers who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit. For those who file early, they will have to wait until at least Feb. 15 to get their full refund from the IRS.

While the IRS will release those refunds on February 15, many taxpayers may not see the funds deposit into their banking accounts until the week of February 27. This additional delay could be for many reasons and it is best for taxpayers to check the IRS’s Where’s My Refund website for any funding updates.

Our sister site has a daily update regarding the PATH act, find it here.

Tax season 2016 to begin 1 day earlier than Tax Season 2015.

The IRS announced the start day for 2015 tax return acceptance. Tax season 2016 to begin 1 day earlier than Tax Season 2015. ” when can you file taxes?” 2016 details below. Continue reading…

I.R.S. have finally updated their Where’s My Refund tool. They will be unloading millions of dollars over the next few days to taxpayers.

We have received news that the I.R.S. updated their Where’s My Refund webpage last night at 12 A.M.. Thousands of people have their Direct Deposit date sets to “on or before February 6th, 2014”. This means that the February 5th payout date is still correct. They will send the funds to the bank on Monday and the funds will be set to be direct deposited on Wednesday February 5th 2014. This will give your bank time to handle the huge load of all of the transfer they receive of millions of dollars over a day period.

Please check the I.R.S. Where’s My Refund webpage and then be watching your bank account for the direct deposit. We strive to keep our schedule as accurate as possible and hope that you have enjoyed reading.

We are compiling a list of refund dates for 2014, so please visit this post and comment when you were accepted versus when you actually received your refund. Please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, tell your friends about us.

Thank you.

The Internal Revenue Service begun accepting returns January 24th, 2014.

We have received hundreds of reports that the I.R.S. has been accepting tax returns before January 31st, 2014. It seems that they have started accepting select few income tax returns on January 24th 2014. We contacted the I.R.S. on that day and were told that to help with the case load, they have accepted some returns early. They plan is to accept returns all next week that meet very strict rules. We have adjusted our 2014 IRS E-File Cycle Chart to match with the reports that we have received. Continue reading…

Taxpayers who want to take advantage of the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax preparation e-filing program won’t have to wait. The Free File program opens to taxpayers on Jan. 17, two weeks before the IRS starts processing 2013 tax returns.

The IRS will not start processing any tax returns until Jan. 31. The government shutdown in October 2013 slowed IRS updates of forms and tests of its computer systems, leading officials to push the official opening of this year’s filing season to the end of the month.

But that doesn’t mean taxpayers have to sit around. Free File companies will hold taxpayers’ completed tax returns and then submit them on Jan. 31.

The early opening of Free File is good news for millions of eligible taxpayers. They are among the group of electronic filers, which increases every year, primarily because they can get their refunds more quickly.

And for the 2014 filing season, a few more taxpayers should be able to use the Free File option. The income eligibility limit has been increased to $58,000. That’s $1,000 more than last year.

Free File 2014 basics

• You can file your 2013 tax return through Free File if your adjusted gross income is $58,000 or less.
• The income cutoff applies regardless of your filing status.
• Free File is for individual, not business, tax returns. However, a sole proprietor who files Schedule C with Form 1040 can use Free File.
• Some participating Free File vendors also offer free state tax return preparation and e-file.
• Some Free File companies offer free electronic extensions. But remember, you still must pay any taxes due by the April 15 deadline or you’ll be charged interest and possibly penalties on any tax you owe.
• You do not download anything. All of the software, which is encrypted to protect privacy, remains at the Free File company website you select, and your return is filed from there.
• Access Free File by going to IRS.gov and clicking on the Free File icon. Beware of offers by outside websites to take you to the Free File website, as they could be scams operated by identity thieves.

The Free File program is a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of tax preparation software manufacturers. Fourteen companies are expected to participate in the program this filing season.

“All the (2014 filing season tax software companies) have done it before. We have experienced providers within the commercial world and the Free File world,” says Tim Hugo, executive director of the Clifton, Va.-based Free File Alliance.

Free File was created in 2003 as a way to get more people to e-file. Its target is taxpayers who might otherwise not e-file because they don’t want or can’t afford to pay the cost of the computer filing programs or professional tax help.

Who qualifies?

The key qualification for Free File services is income. This year, taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $58,000 or less, regardless of filing status, can use the online program.

Participating tax software companies can establish other eligibility requirements. Some may limit usage of their programs based on geographic location, military service or other criteria.

To determine which software best fits your filing needs, the Free File website includes an online search tool to help you select one of the participating Free File companies.

Free File contributions to e-filing

In 2013, almost 144 million tax returns were filed electronically, according to IRS data complete through May 2013. That represents a nearly 2% increase in e-filed returns over the previous year. The sector that showed the most growth last year, according to IRS statistics, was tax returns prepared and filed by taxpayers on their own.

Around 3 million of those self-prepared returns e-filed last year came through Free File, says Hugo. That number has held steady for the past few years.

Three million of those returns e-filed last year came through Free File, says Tim Hugo, executive director of the Clifton, Va.-based Free File Alliance.

“We would love to have more,” says Hugo, but he points to the program’s overall contribution to e-filing. Since its inception, says Hugo, Free File has accounted for the submission of more than 40 million federal returns.

“We get people in the door for e-filing, people who’ve never e-filed before,” says Hugo. “They may go to a commercial product later on, but they will continue to e-file. We are very pleased with that.”

Hugo says the program also has evolved to meet taxpayer needs. “We look at Free File as a three-legged stool,” he says. “There is the traditional Free File, fillable forms and VITA providing services to every income.”

Working with VITA

The filing needs of lower-income taxpayers are addressed through Free File’s continuing partnership with the federal Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, popularly known as VITA.

VITA tax-filing clinics are set up each year in public places — from libraries to community centers to shopping malls. Its volunteers provide free filing assistance to low- and moderate-income taxpayers who might not be able to afford tax software or professional filing help. This filing season, the services of IRS-certified VITA volunteers are available to people who make $52,000 or less.

Hugo says Free File is again placing kiosks, similar to self-checkout stations in retail stores, at VITA sites nationwide.

“You can do your return there or partially do your return and, if you need help, ask a VITA volunteer,” says Hugo. “This helps some of those who are most in need of tax help.”

The IRS has an online search tool to help taxpayers locate a nearby VITA site. Taxpayers also can call (800) 906-9887 for VITA locations.

Free fillable forms remain

The IRS says that Free File is available to 70% of taxpayers. But if you are among the 30%  making too much money to use the service, you still can file for free using the tax agency’s fillable federal return form option.

Here, online versions of the most commonly used IRS tax forms are available through the Free File page. You fill them out on your computer and then e-file the documents at no charge.

Just don’t mistake the forms for tax software.

The fillable forms offer only basic calculations of what’s entered on the form. And you must figure out what goes on the form without the online prompting found in software.

Also, the information is not automatically transferred to associated forms. That means you must, for example, manually enter your itemized deductions total from Schedule A to the appropriate line on Form 1040.

Still, taxpayers with relatively simple filing needs who don’t want to buy tax software might find fillable forms a welcome alternative.

Note, however, that you’ll have to wait a bit longer to use the free fillable forms option. They won’t be available until Jan. 31, the same day that the IRS opens its filing doors to all taxpayers.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service delayed the start of the tax-filing season for one to two weeks, citing the recent 16-day federal government shutdown.

The IRS, which had been scheduled to open filing Jan. 21, 2014, will now begin accepting returns for tax year 2013 as early as Jan. 28. The agency will make a final decision on the date in December, according to a statement today.

“Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right,” Danny Werfel, the acting IRS commissioner, said in the statement.

This is the second year in a row that the IRS has postponed the filing season. Returns for 2012 were accepted starting on Jan. 30 after Congress delayed setting some tax policies.

“Considering the IRS has dealt with much larger changes on far shorter notice over the past years without delay, its reasons are suspect,” Sarah Swinehart, a spokeswoman for the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee, said in an e-mail.

The IRS furloughed more than 90 percent of its employees during the shutdown, which began Oct. 1 when Congress was unable to pass a spending bill and ended after midnight Oct. 17.

‘Adds Insult’

“This is yet another unfortunate effect of a shutdown that Republicans should have never caused,” Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. “This tax-filing delay just adds insult to injury for Americans hoping to get a jump-start on their tax refunds in January.”

The delay won’t alter the April 15 deadline for taxpayers to file their returns or seek extensions.

At the start of the filing season, the IRS largely issues refunds to taxpayers who file as soon as they can. This year, the IRS issued $135 billion in refunds from Jan. 30 to March 1. That’s more than was paid from March 2 to May 10, when the agency received 50 percent more returns.

Delaying refunds could have an additional consequence in 2014. The U.S. debt limit is suspended through Feb. 7, and changes in the government’s projected spending after that date will affect the timing of how long the Treasury Department’s extraordinary measures to prevent a default will last.

Because the government may issue more refunds after Feb. 7 than previously anticipated, a potential lapse in borrowing authority could come a few days sooner than projected, said Loren Adler, research director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in Washington.

The delayed start of tax-filing season probably will create a backlog of potential returns for the start date, rather than delaying all returns equally.

“Those are folks who are trying to do this as soon as their books are in order,” Adler said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center projects that the U.S. will run out of borrowing authority between the end of February and mid-March 2014.

Discuss this and more in the Income Tax Forums.

When is the first day to efile in 2014?

A very common question asked is “when is the first day to efile in 2014?” The simple answer is:

January 25 2014 is the first day to efile in 2014 according to the 2014 IRS Refund Cycle Chart for Tax Year 2013. This information is based off prior year’s information and not I.R.S. confirmed. We will be keeping you up to date with the latest in IRS news and Income Tax IRS Refund Cycle Chart dates as they are posted. Technically you can file on January 5th, 2014, but the I.R.S. forms will not be available until the end of January 2014.

Discuss this and more on the Income Tax Forums.

2014 IRS Refund Cycle Chart and e-file payment information.

This is a schedule for 2014 IRS Refund Cycle Chart. Direct Deposit and Check date’s below. Please see disclaimer. 2014 tax refund schedule is listed below for information purposes. This is just for the first week. Find out when you’re state income tax refund will be in. Please consider donating $1 to $5 to us for help with cost of running the site. Thank you.

Please note that due to heavy volumes on the opening week of tax season, several direct deposits may be pushed to the second week of payouts. 

Late filing your 2012 Income Tax Return? 

If you’re getting an income tax refund, no need to panic. You don’t even need to file an extension.

2012 tax returns that are due a refund have until April 15, 2016 (October 15, 2016 with an extension) to be filed with the IRS before the statute of limitations on the refund runs out. If you don’t file by then, the U.S. Treasury simply keeps your “donation.”

However, if you owe additional tax, file your return as soon as you can, even if you can’t pay your tax bill right away.

The penalties for not filing are much higher than the penalties for not paying, and the longer you wait, the worse it gets. See the What are the penalties for filing late? section below.

The deadline for filing your 2009 Income Tax Refund is steadily approaching.

The IRS deadline for claiming 2009 Income Tax refund checks is April 15th, 2013. You will need to paper file your return by April 15th to claim your 2009 refund checks. This is for federal income tax refunds only.

“Refunds totaling just over $917 million may be waiting for an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009, the Internal Revenue Service announced today. However, to collect the money, a return for 2009 must be filed with the IRS no later than Monday, April 15, 2013.”

“By failing to file a return, people stand to lose more than refund of taxes withheld or paid during 2009. In addition, many low-and-moderate income workers may not have claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). For 2009, the credit is worth as much as $5,657. The EITC helps individuals and families whose incomes are below certain thresholds.”

More details available at the IRS website. If you need assistance filing your 2009 Income Tax Return, contact Hot Springs Tax Services for help.