The Internal Revenue Service has set the beginning of the 2023 tax filing season as Jan. 23. From that date until April 18, the IRS will accept and process 2022 tax returns, the agency announced Thursday.
The deadline for filing is three days later than usual because April 15 falls on a weekend and April 17 is a holiday in the District of Columbia. Taxpayers who are given an extension will have until Oct. 16 to file their returns.
“Taxpayers and tax professionals will see improvements in many areas of the agency this year. We’ve trained thousands of new employees to answer phones and help people. … We expect people to experience improvements this tax season,” acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell said in an agency release.
Despite the addition of over 5,000 new telephone staff, the IRS still urges taxpayers to look for answers to their questions and concerns on the IRS website before calling.
“Our phone volumes remain at very high levels. For faster access to information, we urge people to start with IRS.gov. From there, taxpayers can quickly access the variety of free resources available to help taxpayers anytime, day or night,” Mr. O’Donnell said.
Most taxpayers will see their refunds within three weeks of filing them electronically if they choose to get a direct deposit.
Refunds that include the earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit will not be issued until Feb. 18 at the earliest due to a 2015 law meant to prevent fraud. Most of the refunds containing either or both credits will be issued by Feb. 28.
Taxpayers who made $73,000 or less in 2022 will be able to file their returns free of charge on the IRS website starting Friday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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