Tax filing that normally would start first or second week of January has been delayed this year. The delay is to update and program the tax breaks included in a compromise tax bill President Obama signed last week into the IRS tax system.
People claiming any of these three items — involving the state and local sales tax deduction, higher education tuition and fees deduction and educator expenses deduction as well as those taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A — will need to wait to file their tax returns until tax processing systems are ready, which the IRS estimates will be in mid- to late February.
This delay means millions of taxpayers will have to wait longer to get their refunds next year.