Among the many other problems resulting from the government shutdown, tax season has been delayed, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced, which was reported by USA Today. This means that anyone waiting for a tax refund may have to wait an extra one or two weeks before they receive their refund.
Tax season won't begin processing until at least January 28, with a possible start date as late as February 4, instead of the planned start date of January 21. Unfortunately, the agreement reached by both sides to end the shutdown also leaves the government vulnerable to another possible shutdown in January, which would delay refunds even longer.
This doesn't lead to any breaks for taxpayers, either, with the filing date of April 15 still remaining unchanged. Companies also must still abide by the January 31 date to send out any W-2s and other tax forms.
"While H&R Block is well prepared to adjust to the IRS announcement of a delay in the opening of the 2014 tax season, we are frustrated for our clients who are among the estimated 18 million taxpayers who typically file a return in January," the tax preparation company said in a statement.
According to the IRS, it needs time to program and test tax-processing systems.
"The government closure came during the peak period for preparing IRS systems for the 2014 filing season," the IRS said in a press release. "Programming, testing and deployment of more than 50 IRS systems is needed to handle processing of nearly 150 million tax returns."
The IRS was cut down by 90 percent during the shutdown, causing them to fall three weeks behind, according to the IRS.
"Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right," Danny Werfel, the acting IRS Commissioner, said.
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