Tax Refunds May Be Delayed by Government Shutdown

By Trey Thoelcke Published Oct 23, 7:00AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

It looks like tax refunds could be delayed by a week or more due to the recent government shutdown. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) now says it will not begin processing returns until January 28, at the soonest, possibly not until February 4. The planned start date had been January 21.

That all could be pushed back even further, should budget negotiations break down again by the end of the year, forcing the government to shut down once more.

The IRS says it needs more time to program and to test its tax-processing systems because the government shutdown came during the peak period for preparing those systems for the filing season. The IRS has more than 50 systems to handle processing of nearly 150 million tax returns. Nearly all IRS operations ceased during the shutdown, putting the agency nearly three weeks behind its tight timetable for being ready for filing season.

“Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right,” according to acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.

However, taxpayers still must file their returns by April 15, and companies still must send W-2 and other tax forms on schedule, generally by January 31.

“In the days ahead, we will continue assessing the impact of the shutdown on IRS operations, and we will do everything we can to work through the backlog and pent-up demand, ” Werfel also said in the IRS statement. “We greatly appreciate the patience of taxpayers and the tax professional community during this period. “

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.