IRS RELEASES SHUTDOWN CONTINGENCY PLAN The U.S. Congress continues to debate the budget issues that have shut down the nonessential operations of the federal government. The IRS contingency plan outlines which operations will remain open, and depending on the length the shutdown continues, what areas would be affected. To date, the IRS has announced that they have furloughed all nonessential personnel, stopped issuing refund checks, and have suspended all tax court hearings. The IRS website will remain open, although some interactive features may not available and it is not being updated during this time. However, all deadlines are still in effect and the final tax filing deadline for individual income tax returns will remain a hard date. All payments to the IRS, including payroll tax deposits, estimated tax payments, and any outstanding tax liability payment arrangements continue to be in force. The IRS will also continue designing the tax forms for the 2013 tax filing year and testing the software for the 2014 tax filing season. Individual income tax returns on extension, and due October 15th, can be filed electronically or on paper. The processing of paper returns will be delayed until the government operations are resumed. Payment submitted to the IRS will still be accepted and deposited as they are received by the IRS. There is no live telephone customer service assistance and the walk-in taxpayer assistance centers are closed. Appointments related to tax exams or audits, collections, appeals or Tax Advocate have all been canceled. Those meetings will be rescheduled once the staff is back in the office. The IRS computers will continue to issue the automated notices.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 12:26:15 +0000
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