Urgent Update on IRS Systems

PLEASE NOTE: CROSSLINK IS CONTINUING TO TAKE RETURNS and will submit them to the IRS once their systems come back online. See the Updated IRS statement below:

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IRS Statement:

The IRS experienced a hardware failure this afternoon affecting a number of tax processing systems, which are currently unavailable. Several of our systems are not currently operating, including our modernized e-file system and a number of other related systems. The IRS is currently in the process of making repairs and working to restore normal operations as soon as possible. We anticipate some of the systems will remain unavailable until tomorrow.

The IRS remains in close contact with e-file software transmitters and the tax community during this period.

A number of taxpayer and tax practitioner tools are unavailable. IRS.gov remains available, although a number of the services on the site are not, including Where’s My Refund.

Taxpayers can continue to prepare and file their tax returns as they normally would. Taxpayers can continue to send their tax returns to their e-file provider; these companies will hold the tax returns until the IRS resumes accepting electronic tax returns. Taxpayers who have already filed their tax returns do not need to take any additional action.

The IRS is still assessing the scope of the outage. At this time, the IRS does not anticipate major refund disruptions; we continue to expect that 9 out of 10 taxpayers will receive their refunds within 21 days.
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2015 Illinois Tax Refunds

The Illinois Department of Revenue has announced that as a result of new security measures and to help combat tax identity theft, they will not be sending out refunds on 2015 Illinois tax returns filed in the early part of this upcoming tax season until after March 1, 2016.

Here is the anticipated timeframe for when refunds on electronically filed Illinois returns will be issued: 

• Filed prior to March 1 – Within two to three weeks from March 1, 2016. 

• Filed after March 1 – Within two to three weeks from the date the return is accepted.

IRS Announces Start Dates for 2016 Filing Season

The IRS has announced the start dates of the 2016 filing season.

Individual returns (1040): Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Business returns (1120, 1120-S, and 1065): Saturday, January 9, 2016

See the 2016 Tax Season Opens January 19 for Nation's Taxpayers news release (December 21, 2015) on the IRS website for more information on the start date for individual (1040) returns.