Tax season will open on Monday, January 23, 2023.
What does opening the season mean? It means that IRS will officially begin accepting paper and electronic tax returns that day.
Every year, taxpayers have questions about early filing. Many software companies and tax professionals will accept tax returns before opening day. That doesn’t mean that your tax return will be filed early. Those software companies and tax professionals will submit returns when IRS systems open. The IRS strongly encourages people to file their tax returns electronically for faster refunds.
Tax Season Filing Deadline
The tax season filing deadline will be Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Traditionally, Tax Day is April 15 unless that date falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, in which case the due date for federal income tax returns gets pushed ahead to the next business day. In some years, the District of Columbia observes Emancipation Day on the same day as Tax Day, which affects the nation’s tax filing deadline – so the deadline gets moved.
In 2023, April 15 falls on a Saturday. That means that Tax Day should get pushed ahead to Monday, April 17, 2023 – but it doesn’t. Emancipation Day falls on Monday, April 17, 2023, this year. Since that’s a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, the tax filing deadline will be pushed ahead for all individual taxpayers to Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
More IRS Help
More than 168 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed, with the vast majority coming before the April 18 tax deadline. Hopefully, the season will run more smoothly than in past years—the IRS has hired more employees to answer phones and cut through the backlog.
“This filing season is the first to benefit the IRS and our nation’s tax system from multi-year funding in the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell. “With these new additional resources, taxpayers and tax professionals will see improvements in many areas of the agency this year. We’ve trained thousands of new employees to answer phones and help people. While much work remains after several difficult years, we expect people to experience improvements this tax season. That’s just the start as we work to add new long-term transformation efforts that will make things even smoother in future years. We are very excited to begin to deliver what taxpayers want and our employees know we could do with this funding.”
Filing Extensions
Not sure that you’ll be ready by April 18? Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Monday, October 16, 2023, to file.
IRS Free File
Can’t wait? IRS Free File will open a little earlier than the season—on January 13, when participating providers will accept completed returns and hold them until they can be filed electronically with the IRS. Many commercial tax preparation software companies and tax professionals will also be accepting and preparing tax returns before January 23 to submit the returns when the IRS systems open.
IRS Free File allows taxpayers who made $73,000 or less in 2022 to file their taxes electronically for free using brand-name software provided by commercial tax filing companies. Additionally, Free File Fillable forms are available to any income level and offer free electronic forms that people fill out and file themselves at no cost.
For more tips and resources, check out the Get Ready page on IRS.gov.
