2015 Tax Season Opens Jan. 20

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The new tax season is about to start.

Internal Revenue Service Spokesman Mark Green said that the agency anticipates opening the 2015 filing season as scheduled later this month.

“We anticipate accepting electronic and paper returns on January 20th,” Green said. “We do encourage taxpayers to hold off and wait to file until they get their W-2.”

Green said they have received a number of calls from people wanting to file with their last pay stub or concerned they haven’t yet received their W-2’s.

To those taxpayers, Green said they should just be patient.

“We’ve had individuals come to our office looking for their W-2’s, but those come from your employer,” he said. “Employers should be sending them out in the next week or so and you should have it by January 31st.”

Green also said some people also think filing a paper return before the January 20th start date will speed up their refund, but he said that’s not the case.

“We’ve had calls from people asking if they can file their paper return now and then have it immediately processed on the 20th,” Green said. “But that is how it works. So we recommend taxpayers just wait until the 20th and then file electronically.”

More information about IRS Free File and other information about the 2015 filing season will be available later this month on the IRS’s website, www.irs.gov.

Tax information, forms, and publications are also all available through the IRS Web site 24 hours a day.

For those who do not have access to the Internet or want to speak with an IRS representative over the telephone, they can call the IRS toll-free at 1-800-829-1040 for tax information.