IRS Announces Start of 2024 Tax Season on Jan. 29

IRS announces January 29 as the official start of 2024 tax season, expects more than 128.7 million filings by April 15.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has officially announced January 29, 2024 as the start date for the tax season, with an expected 128.7 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline. This announcement comes as the IRS undergoes a massive overhaul, aiming to improve its technology and customer service processes. This overhaul is being funded by the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated tens of billions of dollars to the agency and was signed into law in August 2022.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel stated, "As our transformation efforts take hold, taxpayers will continue to see marked improvement in IRS operations in the upcoming filing season." The agency is working hard to ensure that the new funding is used to make the process of preparing and filing taxes easier for taxpayers.

In an effort to assist taxpayers, the IRS plans to open more walk-in centers, enhance paperless processing for IRS correspondence, and provide enhanced individual online accounts for taxpayers. Additionally, eligible taxpayers will be able to file their 2023 returns directly with the IRS through a new electronic direct file pilot, which will be rolled out in phases and is expected to be widely available in mid-March.

The IRS anticipates that most refunds will be issued in less than 21 days. In previous years, the agency faced massive backlogs of paper tax returns, with over 21 million backlogged returns in June 2022. However, with increased funding, the IRS expects a smoother filing season with fewer backlogs.

Despite these improvements, the IRS is facing persistent threats of funding cuts. Last year's debt ceiling and budget cuts deal between Republicans and the White House resulted in $1.4 billion being rescinded from the agency's original $80 billion allocation through the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as a separate agreement to divert $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years to other nondefense programs.