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E-filing for 2016 individual returns will shut down soon

By Sally P. Schreiber, J.D.

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2017. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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To prepare for the 2018 filing season, the IRS announced that it would shut the Modernized e-File system it uses for individual income tax return e-filing on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 (IR-2017-183). After that date, taxpayers will have to file their 2016 individual tax returns on paper.

Normally, individual taxpayers would have filed their returns by Oct. 16, 2017, if they were on extension, but this year, large numbers of taxpayers in federally declared disaster areas in Florida; Georgia; parts of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas; Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands; and a number of counties in California have received filing extensions until Jan. 31, 2018.

Those taxpayers who cannot e-file by Nov. 18 will have to file on paper.

The IRS is shutting down its e-file system to perform annual maintenance and to reprogram the system in preparation for the 2018 filing season.

—Sally P. Schreiber (Sally.Schreiber@aicpa-cima.com) is a JofA senior editor.