I need to know when is the first day to e-file taxes, January 2nd or 11th?

Question

Last year EVERYBODY was e-filing on the 2nd of January. They were getting pay stub loans and spending money at the mall. Can it be done again this year? I heard that it has been DISCONTINUED. Is that for every single tax office in the US?

Answer 1

H&R Blocks online thing said January 4th. The states vary, I think. Kentucky was January 11th (I think).

Answer 2

You are asking about two completely different things. Pay stub loans have nothing to do with when the IRS will start taking electronically filed tax returns. That is entirely up to the policy of the company doing the loan.

There has been a lot of publicity about when the IRS will start processing tax returns this year due to legislation that was pending. Congress was trying to get the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch passed and signed into law, and George W. did finally sign it into law on December 26th. Unfortunately this was long after the IRS had finalized preparation for the 2008 tax season. Because of the reprogramming that will need to be made to accommodate these changes, many people's tax returns will be delayed in processing.

Ironically, though taxpayers not affected by the Alternative Minimum Tax (such as almost all of the people interested in getting a pay stub loan) should not experience delays in filing, and the IRS expects to begin processing those returns starting on Jan. 14.

Answer 3

Nobody was e-filing on the 2nd. Those paystub loans, now history, were an advance of the anticipated refund. The returns were not filed until the taxpayer came back in with the W-2s. The truth is that many did not return to file properly and the banks that funded the loans lost a wad of money over that.

The IRS hasn't yet announced the e-file date but should do so any day now. Expect it to be around the 15th of January, give or take a few days either way. Even so, until you have your W-2s in hand, you can NOT file a legal tax return. Some companies get them out early but most don't get them out until late January effectively making early February the earliest filing window for most folks.