It’s that time of year again…

Millions of tax returns are being worked on and, for those of us getting a refund, we want to get ours in early…and get our money back, right?

Last night, the IRS announced that it “experienced a hardware failure this afternoon affecting a number of tax processing systems, which are currently unavailable. Several of our systems are not currently operating, including our modernized e-file system and a number of other related systems.”

Now, before you get all excited or frustrated…

Here are Three key things to note from the IRS Announcement below:
1) Keep working – Your CPA or online tax processor will hold the file for you and submit your return when the system comes back up
2) Once filed, refunds for 90% of taxpayers are still expected within 21 days
3) The IRS is still assessing the situation – so stay tuned

What if you have already filed your return?

One key point to note for those who have already filed is that the IRS Tool “Where’s My Refund” is not working as a result of the outage…

Here is the Official Statement from the IRS:
IRS Statement on Experiencing Systems Outage

Feb. 3, 2016

The IRS experienced a hardware failure this afternoon affecting a number of tax processing systems, which are currently unavailable. Several of our systems are not currently operating, including our modernized e-file system and a number of other related systems. The IRS is currently in the process of making repairs and working to restore normal operations as soon as possible. We anticipate some of the systems will remain unavailable until tomorrow.

The IRS remains in close contact with e-file software transmitters and the tax community during this period.

A number of taxpayer and tax practitioner tools are unavailable. IRS.gov remains available, although a number of the services on the site are not, including Where’s My Refund.

Taxpayers can continue to prepare and file their tax returns as they normally would. Taxpayers can continue to send their tax returns to their e-file provider; these companies will hold the tax returns until the IRS resumes accepting electronic tax returns. Taxpayers who have already filed their tax returns do not need to take any additional action.

The IRS is still assessing the scope of the outage. At this time, the IRS does not anticipate major refund disruptions; we continue to expect that 9 out of 10 taxpayers will receive their refunds within 21 days.

You can learn more by going to to the IRS website directly. 

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