Tax Filing Season Starts Jan. 29

By Melanie Waddell

News January 08, 2024 at 04:23 PM

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The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday that tax filing season for 2023 starts Jan. 29.

The IRS said that it expects more than 128.7 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline.

IRS Free File, a public-private partnership in which taxpayers earning $73,000 or less can use guided tax preparation software to file their federal return at no charge, will also be available on IRS.gov starting Jan. 12.

The IRS Direct File pilot will be rolled out in phases as final testing is completed and is expected to be widely available in mid-March to eligible taxpayers in the participating states. Direct File gives eligible taxpayers a new option to file their 2023 federal tax returns online, for free, directly with the IRS.

The 2024 filing season will continue to build off the success of the 2023 tax season that saw significant improvements following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency said.

"As our transformation efforts take hold, taxpayers will continue to see marked improvement in IRS operations in the upcoming filing season," said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a statement. "IRS employees are working hard to make sure that new funding is used to help taxpayers by making the process of preparing and filing taxes easier."

For most taxpayers, the deadline to file their personal federal tax return, pay any tax owed or request an extension to file is Monday, April 15.

Taxpayers living in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 17, due to the Patriot's Day and Emancipation Day holidays, the IRS said.

If a taxpayer resides in a federally declared disaster area, they also may have additional time to file.

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