IR-2024-04, Jan. 8, 2024

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, as the official start date of the nation’s 2024 tax season when the agency will begin accepting and processing 2023 tax returns.

The IRS expects more than 128.7 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15, 2024, tax deadline.

Although the IRS will not officially begin accepting and processing tax returns until Jan. 29, people do not need to wait until then to work on their taxes if they’re using software companies or tax professionals. For example, most software companies accept electronic submissions and then hold them until the IRS is ready to begin processing later this month. IRS Free File will also be available on IRS.gov starting Jan. 12 in advance of the filing season opening. The IRS Direct File pilot will be rolled out in phases as final testing is completed and is expected to be widely available in mid-March to eligible taxpayers in the participating states.

Taxpayers will continue to see helpful changes at the IRS following ongoing transformation work. Building off the success of the 2023 tax season that saw significant improvements following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2024 filing season will continue reflecting the focus on improving services to taxpayers.

“As our transformation efforts take hold, taxpayers will continue to see marked improvement in IRS operations in the upcoming filing season,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “IRS employees are working hard to make sure that new funding is used to help taxpayers by making the process of preparing and filing taxes easier.”

Some of the new and expanded tools and resources include:

• Expanded in-person service that meets taxpayers where they are by opening or reopening Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). The IRS will also offer extended hours at many TACs nationwide.

• Increased help available on the toll-free line and an expanded customer call back feature designed to significantly reduce wait times.

• Improvements to the Where’s My Refund? tool, which is the IRS’ most widely used taxpayer service tool. However, the tool provides limited information, often leading taxpayers to call the IRS to inquire about their refund status. Updates to Where’s My Refund? will allow taxpayers to see more detailed refund status messages in plain language. These updates will also ensure Where’s My Refund works seamlessly on mobile devices. Taxpayers often see a generic message stating that their returns are still being processed and to check back later. With the improvements, taxpayers will see clearer and more detailed updates, including whether the IRS needs them to respond to a letter requesting additional information. The new updates will reduce the need for taxpayers to call the IRS for answers to basic questions.

• Enhanced paperless processing that will enable taxpayers to submit all correspondence, non-tax forms, and responses to notices digitally and will be able to e-File 20 additional tax forms. Achieving this milestone will enable up to 125 million paper documents to be submitted digitally per year.

• An enhanced IRS Individual Online Account that includes chat, the option to schedule and cancel future payments, revise payment plans and validate and save bank accounts.

• A new, pilot tax filing service called Direct File that gives eligible taxpayers a new choice to file their 2023 federal tax returns online, for free, directly with the IRS. It will be rolled out in phases and is expected to be widely available in mid-March. Find more about Direct File pilot eligibility, scope and the participating states on Direct File.

April 15 tax filing deadline for most taxpayers

For most taxpayers, the deadline to file their personal federal tax return, pay any tax owed or request an extension to file is Monday, April 15, 2024.

Taxpayers living in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 17, 2024, due to the Patriot’s Day and Emancipation Day holidays. If a taxpayer resides in a federally declared disaster area, they also may have additional time to file.

Scenario:  The 2023 and 2022 Form Finder feature is not rendering results

Workaround:  Utilize one of the other entry methods such as “Select” from the menu option or click on on the entry from the 1040 View

Resolution:  Our development team has a high priority ticket because this impacts your current training sessions.

The following information was distributed regarding a critical outage for the Link and Learn Certification: (Note:  TaxSlayer hosts the Practice Lab, not the LLT Certification Site)

The Link & Learn Taxes (LLT) certification site is offline for critical system maintenance. The maintenance is crucial for ensuring the optimal performance, reliability, and security of the system.

Scheduled Downtime Details:

Start Time: Nov. 29, 2023, 10:00 AM ET

End Time: Dec. 11, 2023, 10:00 PM ET

Impact on Services:

During this period, the LLT certification site will be unavailable.  The scheduled downtime is essential for implementing necessary updates, conducting routine maintenance, and ensuring the overall health, reliability, and stability of the system.

Important Note: TaxSlayer support cannot assist volunteers with the Link & Learn Taxes certification site. TaxSlayer hosts the Practice Lab, not the LLT Certification Site.

Scenario: An existing TaxSlayer Pro Online site from 2022 now has a new Site Admin for 2023.

Question: How does the new site admin gain access to the site if they do not already have a login?

Solution: Send an email to TaxSlayer VITA/TCE Support ([email protected]) with the following information and subject line:

Subject Line: New Site Admin

Body: I am the new site admin for the following site and need the link sent that allows me to create my admin credentials.

EFIN: {Enter six digit EFIN}

Site Name: {Enter Site Name}

Site Admin Name: {Enter your name as the new site administrator}

Site Admin Phone: {Enter your phone number)

Site Admin Email: {this is the email address the link will be sent to}

Purpose

To inform volunteers about identified issues with the tests.

Message to Volunteers

Volunteers should make the changes below to their Form 6744 to ensure accurate completion of the tests.

NOTE: Link and Learn Taxes is scheduled to launch on December 1^st. Volunteers wanting to certify earlier should use the electronic VITA/TCE training products.

Use caution when completing the following test and retest scenarios:

• Basic, Scenario 3
  • Page 62, Ian’s age should be 17.
• Basic, Scenario 7
  • Page 42, Box 5 of Form SSA-1099 should be $15,000.
• Basic, Scenario 9
  • Page 52, Hailey Simpson’s Savings Account number 987654321
• Advanced, Scenario 7
  • Page 79, Form 1099-R is missing the Payer’s TIN. Use any EIN for this scenario.
• Advanced Scenario 7 and 8
  • Schedule C, car expenses, Practice Lab may ask for the mileage to be split into two parts of the year. TaxSlayer has been notified of this issue.
• Intake/Interview and Quality Review Certification
  • Test Question 3

Change the question to read as, “The Basic certification level is required to      prepare a return with unreported tip income.”

• Retest Question 3

Change the question to read as, “The taxpayer answered “Yes” to Form 13614-C Part III Question 2 “Tip Income”. What certification level is needed to prepare a return with unreported tips?”

• Over the Phone Interpreter
  • Test Question #4

Change response A to 5590.

Resources

Any questions related to TaxSlayer, or the Practice Lab should be directed to your relationship manager.

For specific information refer to the following resources:

• TaxSlayer VITA/TCE Blog
• Pub 4491, VITA/TCE Training Guide, Important Changes lesson

Thank you for volunteering and for your dedication to top QUALITY service!

The application is currently generating an error when trying to open existing returns and/or create new returns in all  years.  We have opened a critical ticket to get this resolved.

VITA/TCE support will be closed on Sunday, April 9th.  We will resume normal tax season support hours on Monday, April 10th.

4/11/23 – This is resolved.

We are currently experiencing an issue with MI returns that are caught in a calculation loop.  If you need to file the federal return, remove the state and file only the federal return.  We recommend creating a return tag to tag the return so you can go back and file the state.  If you are filing a “state only” return due to a credit, we recommend creating a return tag to tag the returns so you can go back and file the state.