We have a start date for the Internal Revenue Service's 2025 tax filing season!
But hold your celebrations, tax-filing early birds. It’s not for everyone.
Wednesday, Jan. 15, is the day the IRS will begin accepting electronically filed business returns.
That's a day earlier than it started processing business filings last year, but still about two weeks earlier than the agency is expected to start putting individual filings through its system.
But still, Jan. 15 is an official start date, marking the beginning of tax season for some filers.
When for individual filers? The start of the 2025 filing season for the rest of us, according to the agency's Modernized e-File (MeF) Status web page (screen capture below, with my arrow annotation), is "Coming soon."
Based on prior tax season timetables, the annual individual federal tax season likely will begin the last week of the month. That’s Monday, Jan. 27, this year.
The start is when the IRS will start processing returns. You still can submit them, either via mail or, in most cases, electronically, and the filings will be held until the official processing date.
That’s what happens with Free File returns. Yes, the IRS partnership with tax software manufacturers who are part of the Free File Alliance will be back. Uncle Sam and the software providers agreed last year to extend the online, no-cost for qualifying filers program through 2029.
Free File usually is available to taxpayers who meet the income limit around a week or so before the IRS starts processing the year’s returns.
Although there's no official 2024 individual tax return acceptance dates yet, look for the IRS to operate on a similar timetable this year. Business will go first (check), followed by Free File taxpayers (to be determined), and then the rest of us (coming soon).
IRS also needs prep time: All us taxpayers know that a successful personal filing season depends on us being ready. For filers, that includes gathering all the tax documents needed to thoroughly and accurately fill out your Form 1040.
The same preparation routine applies to the IRS.
Every new year, the agency staggers its opening for the various types of tax returns. The reason is because it has to reconfigure its systems to accommodate the upcoming filings. This process typically begins in November.
However, the agency also has to deal with other tasks. Recently, that’s been sorting through the crush of Employee Retention Credit (ERC) filings, many of which were prompted by aggressive promoters who convinced businesses they were eligible for the COVID-era tax break. That wasn’t always true.
The IRS also this month is sending out another coronavirus-related benefit. It discovered during an internal review that around 1 million taxpayers missed out on COVID-19 stimulus checks in 2021. The agency now is automatically issuing those payments, which could be as much as $1,400 per person.
No big late law changes: At least, the IRS and we taxpayers don't have to deal with last-minute tax changes this filing season.
Congress didn't make any late-December Internal Revenue Code changes. The House and Senate also didn't renew, even retroactively, some tax laws, including many that filers had hoped would be on the books for the 2024 tax year.
That lack of lawmaker's action should make the IRS' and our tax filing preparations this year a bit easier. Or maybe not, depending on whether a tax law that was let lapse affects you.
We'll find out for sure when the official processing of all filings, including individual taxpayers' 1040s, finally starts. Here's hoping that it won't be "coming soon" for much longer.
You also might find these items of interest:
- 6 major life events that could affect your taxes
- A Happy New Tax Year look at 2025’s tax brackets
- Changes in 2025 to tax-favored workplace retirement accounts can help you save more
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