The IRS just announced that even with the Extenders legislation passing so last-minute, they’ll be able to open the season on-time, as planned, on January 20th.

This means that if you file a paper return before then, it will get held until the 20th, and if you attempt to e-file before then, it will either be held or rejected.

Of course, this won’t affect most of you reading my post, as small business clients usually have to wait until at least February, to make sure they have received all of their info: W-2, 1099 and 1098 forms are not required to be mailed to recipients until January 31st.

Personally, I hold off on e-filing any client returns until February 1st anyway, except in very unusual circumstances, since there are often bugs in the IRS processing software and tax preparation software, and waiting a week or two for these issues to be discovered and resolved is a good practice.

Here’s the IRS announcement: Tax Season Opens As Planned Following Extenders Legislation.