Tax filing season 2014 is now underway

January 31, 2014

Ready. Set. File your 2013 taxes!

Sorry-openThe Internal Revenue Service finally sent that starting signal today as the 2014 federal filing season officially began, 10 days later than scheduled thanks to the government shutdown last fall.

Early filers already in: Have you already hit enter on your e-filed return?

Or did you do so last week when you used Free File to complete your tax return and get it in the filing queue to be sent today?

Maybe you're old school and plan to drop your paper 1040 in the mail today.

Regardless of which way you sent or will submit your taxes, the IRS is now processing returns — it expects to get more than 148 million filings this year — and refunds soon will be on their way.

Refunds now being processed: Most filers — around three-quarters, says the IRS — get refunds each year. Naturally, they make up the bulk of early filers.

The IRS says it issues most refunds in less than 21 days. And the agency again emphasizes that e-filing with the direct deposit option is the fastest way to get your tax cash back from Uncle Sam.

You can always check the IRS' Where's My Refund? online status tool the day after you e-file your taxes. You'll need to wait about four weeks to check if you snail mail a paper 1040.


This IRS video explains how Where's My Refund? works.

Plenty of time: If, however, you're a little more deliberate in the filing of our tax return, that's fine. There's no rush to get the forms in; you have until April 15 or even Oct. 15 if you get an extension.

For those of you (including me) who will be filing in the next 74 days (you can check the countdown clock in the right column to keep track) or so, I hope you'll make the ol' blog a regular stop.

You'll find our Daily Tax Tip, like today's that looks at the opening of the 2014 e-filing season.

A tip is featured each day, weekends included, in the upper right corner. And you can always check out the full list, which will be broken down by month (the February grouping starts tomorrow) so that you're not overwhelmed.

So whether you're a filing veteran like me or a total tax newbie, welcome to the 2014 tax season party.

Over the next few weeks (or months for those, like me, who'll get extensions) we'll commiserate over our shared filing hassles, trade stories to make tax life simpler and less costly and discuss possible Congressional changes to the tax code.

And when all is said and done, hopefully everyone will go home with some useful tax party favors.

You also might find these items of interest:

Share:

The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

Latest Posts
6 tax moves to consider this June

June 3, 2026

Definitely take a break this June. But taxes don’t take vacations. So, you also should…

Read More
Tax Season 2026 Continues!

We made it. Tax Day 2025 is finally over. For most of us. When the filing season started on Jan. 26, millions who were expecting refunds filed immediately. Most of us got our returns to the Internal Revenue Service by April 15. But plenty of taxpayers also got extensions. They are looking at an Oct. 15 filing deadline.

Those procrastinating filers aren’t a problem. In fact, the IRS appreciates taxpayers who take time to fill out their 1040 forms correctly. It also is grateful that tax submissions are spread out a bit, especially now that the IRS is a leaner agency. Processing returns is easier when they arrive throughout the year instead of in massive bunches.

But enough about Uncle Sam’s tax collection issues. The focus now is on all y’all who filed for extensions, giving you another six months to complete your return. Since your new mid-October due date will be here before you know it, let’s get started now on meeting it.

The ol’ blog is here to help you finish up your extended Form 1040. You can start with January’s tax tips page, which has links to the rest of the year’s tips by-month collections. You also can peruse various tax categories for more tailored advice by clicking on the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of this (and every) page.

And to make sure you don’t miss your new filing deadline, the count-down clock below will let you know just how much time you to file by Oct. 15. At the latest.e. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

Comments
  • The video given in this page is really helpful to the tax payees. And the information which are given in this page is really helpful to us as a tax payee. “The tax filing season 2014” is helpful to the readers.

Comments are closed.