IRS Scheduled Closures and Shut Downs

*Update 7/17/2013*

The IRS has canceled the Scheduled shut down originally Scheduled for Monday July 22. The IRS will be open, issuing Stamped Schedule 1’s and answering phones.

*Begin Original Article*

The IRS has announced that they will be closing their offices and computers certain days and that it will affect you in a big way. The dates are below, and you should pay special attention because some of them fall on tax form due dates.

Closure and Shut Down Dates

Friday May 24 – Monday May 27, 2013 (Closed through Memorial Day)
Friday June 14, 2013
Thursday July 4 – Friday July 5, 2013 (Independence Day and Closed)
Monday July 22, 2013
Friday August 30 – Monday September 2, 2013 (Closed through Labor Day)

At 10pm Eastern the night before each of the above dates, the IRS will close and turn off their computers. That means e-filing will be delayed one entire business day, and phones won’t be answered by IRS.

Turning Off – a brief explanation

Most of these dates fall on a Friday, so I’ll use that date to illustrate an example. On the night before the dates listed above (Thursday) at 10:00pm Eastern Time the IRS computers and phones will all turn off. They will remain off the whole day of the closure (Friday) and will be completely unreachable until they are turned back on one business day later (Monday).

Turning On – a brief explanation

If everything goes according to plan the computers, phones, and people will be back up and running the following business day (Monday or Tuesday) at 9:00am Eastern. With lots of  luck the IRS will only really be down for one business day, but it’s important to know the IRS isn’t always able to get back on line exactly whey they want.

e-filers of Form 2290 get a break thanks to these closure days and holidays.

The IRS e-file due date for the 2013/2014 Form 2290 is Tuesday September 3rd.

We recommend you e-file a minimum of 5 business days before that due date just to be safe because BOTH the tax dollars and the form have to be received by the IRS in order for the whole thing to be considered on time. Also just a few days before that September 3rd Deadline (begining Friday August 30th, – Monday September 2nd) the IRS will shut down again!! You want to be sure you get e-filed before this closure if at all possible.

If you paper file, (or mail a payment voucher and check with your e-filed return) your form still needs to be postmarked on or before Saturday August 31st in order to be considered on time. I recommend USPS Tracking.

How does this affect me?

For most of us, this is too much information; most won’t even notice the IRS is closed if they reopen on schedule. If you e-file on one of those days listed above, you probably won’t get your Stamped Schedule 1 until the following business day but that’s no big deal for most of us. E-file is fast, so you’ll get something back quickly when the IRS reopens.

JUST REMEMBER: the IRS isn’t always able to come back up when they want to. Sometimes when they turn their computers off, it takes them longer then they expect to get them back up and running. So please e-file early!! e-filing no later then Monday August 26, 2013 will help ensure you get accepted by the IRS on time.