IRS further delays acceptance of returns claiming Form 8863 education credits

On Monday, two days before the delayed Jan. 30 start of the 2013 filing season, the IRS announced a further delay in processing returns that contain Form 8863, Education Credits, which must be filed by people claiming the American opportunity and the lifetime learning tax credits (IR-2013-10). During testing, the IRS discovered that programming modifications must be made before the form can be processed correctly so returns that include the form cannot be filed until mid-February.

The IRS emphasized that returns claiming other education-related items, such as the student loan interest deduction and the deduction for higher education tuition or fees, can be filed beginning Wednesday, Jan. 30.

The IRS also noted that its website contains a list of 30 other forms that cannot be filed yet because the forms must be updated and systems for processing them tested. A date will be announced when returns containing these forms will be accepted, but that date will probably be late February or sometime in March.

—Sally P. Schreiber (sschreiber@aicpa.org) is a JofA senior editor.