The IRS has officially announced that taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. filing season will begin on January 20, 2015. At Forbes, Kelly Phillips Erb notes that this is actually a week and a half earlier than the start dates for 2013 and 2012.
This is a remarkably fast turnaround, given that the tax code for 2014 was in flux right until the middle of December, when the extenders bill was finally passed. Part of the reason the IRS can handle the last-minute extenders bills so easily is that it has become wearily predictable at this point; Congress always renews these at the last minute, and the IRS actually even held lines in the draft 1040 open for the extenders.
Needless to say, this is no way for Congress to set tax policy. The tax policy for 2014 should have been complete by the beginning of the year, not the end. But the IRS deserves some credit, here, for handling the unreasonable demands of Congress. A good New Year’s resolution for Congress would be to treat the tax code more responsibly in the future.
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