Taxpayers who claim deductions for home-mortgage interest, gifts to charity and state and local taxes will have to wait until middle to late February to file their 2010 returns.
The Internal Revenue Service attributed the late start of the filing season to changes in tax law for 2010 that were finished last week. The agency needs extra time to put processing systems in place, the IRS said today.
“The majority of taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns and file them as they normally do,” IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said in a statement. “We will do everything we can to minimize the impact of recent tax law changes on other taxpayers. The IRS will work through the holidays and into the new year to get our systems reprogrammed and ensure taxpayers have a smooth tax season.”
The delay also applies to filers preparing to take advantage of a deduction for college tuition and fees of up to $4,000, and a separate $250 deduction for teachers’ out-of- pocket classroom expenses.
The late start to the filing season will affect an estimated one-third of U.S. taxpayers who itemize their deductions rather than claim the standard deduction, which for 2010 is $11,400 for a married couple filing jointly and $5,700 for individuals. According to IRS data for 2008, 33.8 percent of individual returns, or 48.2 million, included itemized deductions.
The changes don’t affect the April 15 deadline for filing tax returns. Many taxpayers don’t file until close to that deadline, in part because it can take time to gather necessary documents.
More than half of married couples filing jointly itemize their deductions, and taxpayers who itemize tend to have higher incomes. They received 69.4 percent of adjusted gross income in 2008, according to IRS data, more than double their share of the U.S. population.
(Read More: Bloomberg)
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One Response
Given that even the rates weren’t set until last week, it’s amazing they haven’t decided to move all the deadlines down a month or two. The Congress really ought to pass any tax changes early enough in the year so everyone (taxpayers and the IRS) have time to get things ready before filing season.