IRS Delaying Some Return Processing-Computer Issue

What a crock!! If we owed them money on a certain date, they wouldn't accept the excuse, that we had not gotten it done on time!!..Karen

Precisely. I can accept delays, etc., but if they knew in Dec. that the laws were being enacted, I think they could have informed the taxpayers a little sooner by putting it out on the news or something, not just on their website. Unless I missed it somewhere.

Right, Sue, and if they knew their computers were not equipped for these, they should have notified people that if they were claiming those deductions that their checks would be delayed ahead of time.

Yep, that's what I thought too. This is the first time I've sat down and made concrete plans on doing something special with my return, other than paying bills off. I planned to buy a van, and the deal expires on 2/1. If my refund doesn't come until 2/6, I'm sunk. They've had 4 other people come in and offer them cash for the van, full price, not the reduced price I negotiated with them. The dealership is a small one, and the owner is pretty ticked that he's holding the van for someone that's getting it for $500 less than full price, and 4 other people have offered full price in the past 2 weeks.

Turbotax said the same thing on their website. No returns will be processed until the first week of February.

Most state forms have not been updated either for certain deductions.

I know - I normally use Turbotax, have for years, but I did break tradition and used TaxAct this year, because Turbotax didn't have the state forms ready when I filed. So Turbotax is saying NO returns will be processed until Feb 1?

Ok....here's a direct quote from the IRS website:

[quote]IR-2007-03, Jan. 8, 2007

Washington ???????? The Internal Revenue Service plans a Feb. 3 start date for processing tax returns that claim key tax provisions enacted in December.

The IRS announced today that it will begin processing both e-file and paper tax returns on Feb. 3 that include claims for the major ???????extender??????? provisions, including deductions for state and local sales taxes, higher education tuition and fees, and educator expenses. Any other tax returns for individuals that do not claim the extender provision can be filed as normal this month.

The Feb. 3 date allows the IRS enough time to update its systems to accommodate the tax law changes without disrupting other operations tied to the tax filing season.

???????The vast majority of taxpayers will not be affected by these changes, and they will not notice any difference as they start filing tax returns this month,??????? IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. ???????The IRS urges people claiming the extender deductions to file electronically to reduce the chance of making an error.???????

Based on filings last year, about 930,000 tax returns claimed any of the three main extender provisions by Feb. 1. Overall, the IRS expects to process about 136 million individual tax returns this year.
[/quote]
Ok, am I the only one that thinks 930,000 is somewhere at least CLOSE to affecting a "...vast majority of taxpayers..."???? :evil: :evil:

Most of the states are rolling out there versions on 2 February.

I too filed my income tax return and was told that it would be delayed. After filing electronically with Turbo Tax, I was suppose to have my refund deposited on 1-26-07. However, I have been told by the IRS that they are reviewing my refund, along with 72,000 others for 2 weeks. How sad is that!. I paid for a rapid refund and I could have mailed my return and paid nothing. As you can understand I am very dissapointed.

I'm wondering how they decide who to do this to. I did my own taxes and e-filed had my federal and state refunds by 1/26/07.

Yeah I checked my status and my date changed as well, I hope it doesn't keep changing. It changed by 5 days.

I am so glad we filed when we did. I thought the trouble we had was rediculous, but this is unbelieveable. Rest assured the IRS people got their refunds when promised.

Well, I got my refund today. The IRS website said between 2/2 and 2/6, and it came today, on 2/2, so I guess they at least kept their word about that! I just find it SO ironic that THEY can delay processing because of a "computer issue", but if WE owed THEM money, they'd be coming after us, no excuses accepted.

Bummer, though - the 2nd van I was looking at was sold yesterday! Sooo...back to the drawing board on that! But there are many others out there, so I'm not lost yet.

Actually there was a problem with the IRS they sent out thousands of dollars to people and they have no record of who they sent the checks too. One lady had to fight with her bank and the IRS to take back money they deposited in her account. So that can be one of the reasons for the delay

Steelers - the delayed processing was due to three major tax deductions that many people take. The tax laws for 2006 were approved late in December, which the IRS says caused a delay in updating their computer system (yeah, a month and half long delay!). The deductions were:

-The State Sales Tax Deduction (yep, that's the one you were asking about in another thread)
-Tuiton Deduction for Higher Education
-Deduction for Expenses Paid by Teachers (not reimbursed by their employer)

Again, the IRS said this "would not affect the vast majority of taxpayers"....yet in the very next paragraph on their website, they stated it would affect approximately 950,000 people. No wonder our government can't keep finances straight....look at the numbers the IRS uses for figuring "a vast majority"...

I received the deduction for Higher Education

Not sure how it worked out that way - maybe it was a different sort of higher education deduction or something...I don't know. That's just what was on the IRS website. Here's a link to the article on the IRS website:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=165779,00.html

Glad you got yours on time, though! :D

I efile on 1-29-08 the date change form 1-12-08 to
2-26-08. What i crock if I knew this I would have waited until the 1st of March.