CPA Practice Advisor just published a short article highlighting the IRS accomplishments of opening tax season “on time” and debuting their new Form 1040. Now I’m going to take a moment to tear it apart.

I’ll be the first to congratulate the IRS on doing the best-possible job given their unenviable situation. They have suffered extreme budget cuts while being saddled with additional responsibilities (both at the hands of Congress); they’ve been handed the worst-written tax law in history and been told to implement it in a ridiculously short timeframe; and then they suffered a government shutdown immediately before tax season. And somehow they managed to redesign the forms, issue final regulations on the Section 199A mess, and open tax season a day earlier than last year. Go, IRS! (I’m not being sarcastic. It’s amazing that they pulled this all off.)

However — I want to caution readers about the optimism expressed by the IRS Commissioner and in this article and dampen expectations, because here is the reality:

1. Many forms are not finalized yet. Tax season is only “open” for the simplest of tax returns. Many states awaiting IRS guidance have also not been able to finalize their forms.
2. Among my professional forums, none of us is seeing any tax software package that has been able to keep up with the frenetic pace of programming and staying on top of frequently-released (and often conflicting) IRS guidance. Most systems are not calculating the Section 199A QBI deduction correctly (and some, not at all), and the recommendations have been, a) to calculate them by hand and compare to the software, issuing manual overrides; and, b) wait until the end of the first week of February to file any returns, in hopes that the software companies issue patches to correct some of these problems.
3. The IRS expects EITC/ACTC-related refunds to be available starting on Feb 27th at the earliest.
4. There is no 1040 “postcard”. This is a ruse. There is now a “building-block” approach to the Form 1040 that involves a front-page (with smaller font to get it to fit on half-a-piece of paper) and six — count them, six — additional schedules. This is substantially longer than the old Form 1040.
5. I have tried calling the IRS Practitioner Priority Line twice since they reopened for business on January 28th, only to receive a recorded message that due to high call volume, they are not able to answer.

So — honestly, pat the IRS employees on the back for doing the best they can in an impossible situation… but please also recognize that some of these claims are a bit of an exaggeration; and be patient with the IRS, with your tax software company, and with your tax professional.

Source: IRS Opens Tax Season: Debuts New Form 1040 | CPA Practice Advisor