When can I file my 2020 tax

[DoninGA]

You can file the 2020 federal tax return after you have received every Form W-2 and Form 1099 that you are required to file on your personal tax return, Form 1040.  All W-2's and Form 1099's are entered on only one tax return.

Filing for tax year 2020 cannot begin until after January 1, 2021.

The IRS will not be accepting any type of 2020 tax return until late January 2021.

Employers are required to provide the W-2's no later than January 31, 2021.

Financial institutions send Form 1099's in January and February.

Filing a tax return before mid-February is not advisable due to the IRS having to provide new forms and schedules for tax year 2020.

[rjs]

TurboTax will let you "e-file" your tax return starting January 7, but your tax return will not really be filed. TurboTax will just hold it until the IRS begins accepting returns. Nothing will be done with it before then. If you submit it early, be aware that you can't cancel it or get it back to make changes or corrections if you find that you made an error or left something out.

[xmasbaby0]

Please be careful about being in too much of a hurry to file your next tax return. Many tax forms are not available at the very beginning of the tax season, so you have to wait for your forms. The software still needs updates at the beginning of the tax season.  Every year we see people who are in such a rush to file that they file incorrectly and incompletely.  If you file too early and leave out a W-2 or a 1099, or forget to enter information, you will end up having to amend your tax return---and that takes months.  Employers have until the end of January to issue W-2's----and ALL of your 2020 W-2's have to be on the same tax return.  Many of the 1099's and 1098's you need do not arrive until late January or sometime in February.  If you are getting Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS is going to hold your refund until the end of February no matter how early you file.  There seems to be a greater chance of "early" returns being reviewed and those refunds are delayed, or early returns are more often subject to identity verification--which will also delay processing.  Filing too early may just be a recipe for a delayed refund.  It might go more smoothly for you if you wait until at least mid-February to file instead of e-filing during the first minute that you can do it.