Accountants everywhere, rejoice!  For the first time in years, tax season will open on time!

From the National Assocation of Tax Practitioners:

The IRS states in IR-2015-139 that despite the recent passing of the tax extenders legislation, the IRS will begin accepting individual electronic returns as scheduled on January 19. The IRS will also begin processing paper tax returns at the same time. The IRS states there is no advantage to filing paper returns in early January instead of waiting for e-file to begin.

Although the IRS begins accepting returns on January 19, many tax software companies will begin accepting tax returns earlier in January and submitting them to the IRS when processing systems open.

Take note: the due date for the 2015 Form 1040 is April 18, 2016, due to Washington, D.C.’s observance of Emancipation Day.

I prepare tax returns in the order I receive completed packets, which usually means waiting until the second week of February, at which point most folks will have received their 1099s and W-2s, and businesses will have closed out and reconciled their books.  But it’s nice to know that simple returns can be filed early, and that our software company will already have weeded out any filing issues by the time we begin e-filing.

Source: 2016 Tax Season Opens Jan. 19 for Nation’s Taxpayers