Actually, submitting your taxes early is a gamble. When you submit your tax return, it's sent to a submission server that only the IRS can access. There it sits until the IRS pulls it. Now the IRS does do testing of there systems prior to the official start date by pulling a few returns. If a return gets pulled for a test, that does not mean it will get processed first, or any sooner or faster. They're just testing. The bigger issue is, I've never known a test to go perfect the first time. So if that testing with your return really screws up and your return is lost, you'll be waiting a looooong time for any refund. More than likely you'd be getting a letter from the IRS in about 2 years asking where your 2017 return is. THen you'll have to print, sign and mail it to the IRS. On top of that, if you can't prove the IRS accepted it before the deadline, you'll pay interest, penalties and late fees on that return. EVen if you have a refund coming it's perfectly possible for you to be assessed late filing fees, unless you can prove the IRS accepted it. Your only proof is that acceptance e-mail. So if you don't have that, you lose.
