Taxpayers still need to file their taxes before the October 15 deadline even though the federal government is shut down. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that it is furloughing employees, but that essential workers will still process e-filed tax returns as usual.
Tom O’Saben is the Director of Tax Content & Government Relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP). He said that people should be prepared to file on time.
The deadline is for individuals who filed a six month extension on April 15. According to O’Saben, there are additional deadline extensions for those who are in federal or state declared disaster areas.
O’Saben said that in his more than thirty years of experience as a tax professional, he has rarely known of an extension regarding deadlines on tax filing or payments.
“The only time I’ve ever seen a change in the due date was when we went through COVID,” he said.
The federal government shutdown will affect the filing process, O’Saben said. The IRS had a contingency plan in place to keep operations running for five days, but that has since passed. The IRS has started laying off employees.
“There will likely be a dramatic impact on the level of service that’s available,” O’Saben said.
IRS services where employees would file tax returns for people seeking assistance are not available during the shutdown, O’Saben added.
O’Saben said that the biggest impacts will be for people who are mailing in their tax returns or are calling the IRS with questions. He advises people to do everything possible to file their taxes electronically.
Lisa Greene-Lewis is with TurboTax. She said when people do not file on time, they are given a failure to file penalty if money is owed.
“That penalty is 5% of what you owe, every month,” Greene-Lewis said. If a person is getting a refund, there is no penalty, but Greene-Lewis said to still file as soon as possible.
O’Saben said individuals can appeal penalties if there are circumstances outside of their control that prevented them from filing.
Greene-Lewis urges people to gather all their documents in one place so they are prepared to maximize deductions and credits if possible.
