IRS announces e-file start date

[mwcpa]

After Congress made material changes to the 2012 tax law on January 1, 2012 the IRS has been delayed, through no fault of theirs, the start of the e-filing system until January 30, 2013. But not all can file as early as this date, certain "forms" require changes due to law changes put into place by Congress for 2012 after the year ended.

www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Plans-Jan.-30-Tax-Season-Opening-For-1040-Filers

(one good thing about this delay is that maybe it will cut down on some of the "early" filing fraud that has occurred for the last few years. a "new" scheme has been from those who steal identities, they file a bunch of tax filings with fake data with the hope that the fake refunds get sent to a bank account. I had two clients over the last couple of year who had identities stolen get stung by this new fraud by criminals. It is a mess to deal with.)

A word to the wise, be leery of the "rapid refund" which are often high cost refund anticipation loans (read the really small print). If you "need" the money then find a pro who can advise you on how to not be reliant on a tax refund (by tweaking your withholding tax to gt more now) to pay off credit card bills... these schemes cost you twice.. first you have been paying high interest on the credit card (lost money) and then you pay a high cost on your interest free loan to the government.

[taxref]

Perhaps an even more common benefit will be a reduction in the "I don't have my W-2 yet, but I want to file using my last paystub" requests. I never hear again from many of those people I say no to, so I'm sure they went to someone who would use their paystub.

[mwcpa]

ref... that will be good for us... but technically one could not "e-file" a tax return based on a paystub... but I an sure some do....