Expect delays this tax filing season due to The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012

The congress has passed and the President has signed into law The American Taxpayer relief act of 2012.  This bill is over 150 pages and retroactively extends many provisions that were slated to expire  The law also permanently patches the AMT (alternative minimum tax).  The permanent patching of the AMT is alone worth any inconvenience we may endure this year.

The IRS is reviewing the details of the legislation and assessing the impact it will have on the tax filing season.  We expect that the IRS will soon make some pronouncement regarding  when taxpayers can begin filing tax returns.  The tax e-filing season is scheduled to begin January 22, 2012, however, due to this last minute legislation just signed into law we anticipate that there will be some delay processing most if not all tax returns this year.

At this point many common tax forms have not been released by the IRS.  We would not be surprised to find that processing for many of these forms has been delayed for a number of weeks, similar to the delays back in 2011 when late breaking legislation caused certain taxpayers to have to wait until February to file.

As a general rule, we encourage our clients to let other taxpayers be the first guinea pigs through the tax system to avoid software programming and processing issues.  This year will be no different.

Tax On Wheels, LLC has installed our tax software for this year but it is not yet ready for production.  We expect our tax software will be stable in another week or so, January 10, 2013.  At that point we will begin taking appointments for fairly simple returns.  Those with more complicated returns should probably wait until at least the end of January to schedule appointments.  Remember, however, that even if we complete your appointment we may not be able to process your tax return until the IRS authorizes processing for all of the forms needed for your return.

Bottom line, expect delays this tax season.

Please feel free to contact Tax On Wheels, LLC at 803 732-4288 if you have questions or concerns about the coming tax season.