The IRS has indicated shutdown begins on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, in order to prepare the system for the upcoming Tax Year 2023 Filing Season. After this date and time, no returns can be electronically filed. Additional information available here.

Note: TaxSlayer Pro applications will still be available after the cutover, but if you prepare returns, you will need to file them via paper until the IRS brings their 1040 MeF system back online in late January. When the 1040 MeF system comes back online, you will be able to electronically file the following years: 2023, 2022, and 2021.

Iowa’s production system is currently unavailable until November 13th for system updates. This means that acknowledgments for e-filed IA returns will not be delivered until November 13th at the earliest. Sites can still e-file IA returns during this period.

10/14/23

Maine has resumed processing returns/acknowledgements.

10/13/23 – Update from Maine with more details about the ack delays.

“Maine Revenue Services has received a lot of questions regarding the stoppage of MeF processing.  I received word late last night that this also includes paper filing as well.  Here is what I did find out last night and I will keep you updated with any new information that I receive.

1. MRS will still pull all MEF returns from the IRS daily, this includes 1040, 1120, 941P, and 1041
2. MRS will still accept paper returns
3. There is no need to change the way you would have originally filed a return
4. All returns are processed by date received – which is the date they are pulled from the IRS or received by mail
5. The stoppage is not related to MeF or paper forms, but an internal processing error on 1040 returns which we are feverishly correcting

MRS’s MeF process ties all processing of 1120, 1040, 941P, and 1041 together until the submissions have made it into the internal system which is why this is affecting all of our MeF profiles.  We are unable to individually turn of a single profile.  For the paper forms, those are sorted by tax type then processed.  All other tax types other than 1040 will continue to get processed normally if they are paper filed.

MRS sincerely apologizes for this inconvenience.”

The below message was received this afternoon from Maine Revenue Services. Maine has not indicated an ETA for when acknowledgements will resume processing.

“Maine Revenue Services executives have decided to stop all MeF processing due to internal return processing issues not related to MeF.“

Software vendors received the below message from Maine Revenue Services.

“As a reminder, Maine is performing an upgrade to our internal software which will be completed in 1 to 2 years.  As we have done in prior years for Corporate and Pass-Through, processing will be put on hold for 1040ME and 1041ME.

The last day we will pull 1040ME and 1041ME returns from the IRS will be Thursday September 14^th, 2023.  Those returns will post (if they pass our validations) on Friday September 15^th, 2023.  Any returns received at the IRS after Thursday September 14^th, 2023 will NOT be picked up from the IRS or processed until Tuesday October 10^th, 2023.  ACK’s will not be sent for those returns received after Thursday September 14^th, 2023 until we resume processing on Tuesday October 10^th, 2023.

One additional item, due to transferring from our current legacy system to our new system all other MeF services (1120, 941P) will be affected from Thursday October 5^th at 12:01am until the morning of Tuesday October 10^th.  Returns can be submitted, but will not be retrieved from the IRS until our system is back up and running on October 10^th.  

We apologize for any inconvenience and delay in processing this may cause.  If you have any questions please contact us.“

The below message was shared to software vendors from the Ohio Department of Taxation.

“As shared with our partners previously, Ohio’s Individual and School District Income Taxes are transitioning into our new NextGen system, OTS (Ohio Tax System) on 9/5/23.  In preparation for the migration to our new system, we will be shutting off the processing of MeF returns for only Individual and School District Income Tax submissions starting the very early morning hours of Monday 8/21/23 through Tuesday 9/5/23. 

What you will need to do

1. You can continue to transmit Individual and School District Income Tax submissions during this time frame but they will be held at the IRS and will not be picked up/processed (with acknowledgements sent) by Ohio until 9/5/23. 
2. We request that you please place messaging in your software to advise your users of this time frame
   1. Advise that returns submitted electronically during this timeframe will be credited with the correct submission date (i.e. IRS submission date) but the returns will not be processed and any acceptance/rejection messaging will not be sent until 9/5/23.
      1. Also, include a reminder that there is no benefit in printing and mailing the returns instead of waiting for these to be processed on 9/5/23.  Paper returns can take 8 to 10 weeks to be processed.

NOTE – this affects Individual and School District Income Tax submissions only.  This DOES NOT affect any other Ohio taxes submitted electronically (i.e. Muni, Fiduciary or Pass Through Entity).“

The below message was shared with software vendors by the Vermont Department of Revenue.

“As some of you may know, the State of Vermont was greatly impacted by substantial flooding on July 10^th.  Please see the information below regarding extensions granted by the Governor.

Taxpayers impacted by flooding and unable to meet Vermont tax deadlines between July 7, 2023, and November 15, 2023, will now have until November 15, 2023, to file and pay taxes.

The list of automatic extensions to November 15, 2023 for due dates between July 7, 2023 and November 15, 2023 includes:

• Corporate and business income tax, including estimated payments
• Sales and use tax
• Meals and rooms tax
• Payroll withholding tax
• Estimated personal income tax payments, originally due September 15, 2023
• Filing of 2022 Vermont personal income taxes with a valid federal or Vermont extension

I would note, this extension does NOT include the tax year 2022 personal income tax original payment due date, as that due date was April 18^th, and before the July 7^th qualifying period.“

5/16/23 – This issue has been resolved.

A high priority issue has been entered for our development team regarding the issue some sites are experiencing when trying to access the e-file menu in the 2020 application. The issue number is #191. This post will be updated when the issue has been resolved.

Industry received two updates today from two state departments concerning acknowledgements.

Maine: We are experiencing a delay in processing electronically filed 1040ME returns due to the large volume we have received over the last week.  We are currently processing April 19^th and 20^th dates and should have all ack’s sent out and caught up by the end of the week.

New Jersey: We are behind in sending acks due to high volume we are expecting all acks to be delivered by the end of the week.