The IRS will begin to accept/reject returns on January 23. If you e-file sooner, your return will just sit on a server. Click Review to see if you have forms that are not ready yet.
While it is in pending on that server, you will have no ability or power to fix or change anything if you suddenly realize you have left out something or made a mistake. On January 5 TT allowed e-filing to begin. Within hours we were seeing frantic users who e-filed and accidentally used the wrong W-2’s etc.
Employers have until the end of January to send W-2's, there are over a dozen kinds of 1099's that can still arrive in your mail or online in January and February….etc., etc., etc. Many federal and state forms are not yet available; you cannot file until your forms are ready. When you rush to file too soon you risk making mistakes that will put your return under review or that will require you to amend later. Those situations can take months to sort out. And...if you are in a hurry because you are getting child tax credit or earned income credit, the IRS will hold your refund until mid-February because of the PATH act. Every year we see people who rush to file and live to regret their haste. Check the forum a few days after the first filing frenzy to read the posts from people who forgot W-2’s, forgot to enter dependents, forgot to enter Social Security, forgot a 1099 would be coming……and they want to know how to fix their returns—or stop them from going to the IRS.
IF you e-file now, your return will go into “pending” until the IRS starts to accept/reject returns.
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
