IRS digital tax filing systems mostly down as midnight deadline approaches [u]

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2018
The Internal Revenue Service's electronic filing system has failed for reasons unknown, and the agency has been attempting to solve the problem for nearly eight hours with no success.

IRS Building in Washington D.C.


The systems started to fail early Tuesday morning, with initial attempts to solve the problem not working. The IRS will perform a "hard reboot" of its systems at some point on Tuesday, should all other efforts fail.

"On my way over here this morning, I was told a number of systems are down at the moment," IRS Acting Commissioner David J. Kautter said at an oversight hearing according to the Washington Post on Tuesday afternoon. "We are working to resolve the issue and taxpayers should continue to file as they normally would."

Kautter says that not only are direct filings to the IRS affected, but those using tax preparation software like TurboTax or online services could be impacted as well. The agency hasn't eliminated any root cause of the incident, up to and including a cyberattack.

Kautter believes that "millions, potentially" of filers could be impacted by the outage. All forms, including extensions, that require the IRS electronic filing portal are impacted by the problem.

Error shown at the IRS.gov Direct Pay site
Error shown at the IRS.gov Direct Pay site


"If we can't solve it today we'll figure out a solution," Kautter said. "Taxpayers would not be penalized because of a technical problem the IRS is having."

AppleInsider has learned that the IRS has called in a wide array of third-party contractors to work on a fix for the issue, in addition to calling all of its information technology staff to work on the problem.

The agency came under fire by governmental officials because of the failure in the oversight hearing. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) repeated calls for reforms because of the advancement of technology that the agency hasn't kept up with, and Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT) criticized them as well.

"This is game-day for the IRS," said Gianforte. "It seems the IRS can't get out of the locker room."

Update: In light of the technical difficulties, the IRS is providing individuals and businesses an additional day to file and pay. The new deadline for 2018 is midnight on Wednesday, April 18.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    glynhglynh Posts: 133member
    Russians! You heard it here first :)
    edited April 2018 lkruppcornchiposmartormenajrtallest skilwatto_cobra1983
  • Reply 2 of 28
    bobroobobroo Posts: 96member
    "File your taxes in Ireland where it is cheaper".........Tim Cook
    zeus423tyler82MisterKit1983
  • Reply 3 of 28
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    This is amusing and all, but it's a serious problem for a lot of people.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 28
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    Much like the ATF, the IRS isn't allowed to modernize most of its technology. They have been requesting the ability to automatically file tax returns for all US citizens for over a decade, but Intuit (and I'm sure other companies) spends a staggering amount of money every year lobbying Congress to block it.
    foregoneconclusionzeus423ktappebeowulfschmidtstanthemanjbdragonnetmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 28
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,642member
    Pffft.  I paid my taxes over a year ago.  /Homer
    SpamSandwichedredzeus423dewmeosmartormenajrwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 28
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    zimmie said:
    Much like the ATF, the IRS isn't allowed to modernize most of its technology. They have been requesting the ability to automatically file tax returns for all US citizens for over a decade, but Intuit (and I'm sure other companies) spends a staggering amount of money every year lobbying Congress to block it.
    EXACTLY right. Congress can rake them over the coals all they want, but it's Congress that won't let them update their systems. As a NASA administrator said during a hearing a couple of decades ago: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers". They were talking about this on the radio over the weekend. One idea that has been proposed: The IRS could pre fill out your tax form. You'd go online, and if you didn't see any issues you disagreed with, you'd electronically sign it. Poof, about half the people in the US could file their taxes in five minutes, and get their refunds automatically deposited within a business day. I mean the IRS HAS the data, that's what they use  to check your form. But as you said Inuit, H&R Block, and others fight tooth and nail against anything that would make filing simpler and easier.
    ktappestanthemannetmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 28
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,063member
    Or you can fill out a form and drop it in the mail.

  • Reply 8 of 28
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    bobroo said:
    "File your taxes in Ireland where it is cheaper".........Tim Cook
    You may want to look into that. Corporate taxes are not personal taxes. 
    mwhitewatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 28
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    DAalseth said:
    zimmie said:
    Much like the ATF, the IRS isn't allowed to modernize most of its technology. They have been requesting the ability to automatically file tax returns for all US citizens for over a decade, but Intuit (and I'm sure other companies) spends a staggering amount of money every year lobbying Congress to block it.
    EXACTLY right. Congress can rake them over the coals all they want, but it's Congress that won't let them update their systems. As a NASA administrator said during a hearing a couple of decades ago: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers". They were talking about this on the radio over the weekend. One idea that has been proposed: The IRS could pre fill out your tax form. You'd go online, and if you didn't see any issues you disagreed with, you'd electronically sign it. Poof, about half the people in the US could file their taxes in five minutes, and get their refunds automatically deposited within a business day. I mean the IRS HAS the data, that's what they use  to check your form. But as you said Inuit, H&R Block, and others fight tooth and nail against anything that would make filing simpler and easier.
    Many countries don’t need the average worker to tax file. 
  • Reply 10 of 28
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    LOL. That is all... L.O.L.
    cornchip
  • Reply 11 of 28
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    Use true and tried method of of dropping at United States Postal Service. I did it today. Costs me 50 cents for federal and 50 cents for State.
    cornchip
  • Reply 12 of 28
    charlesatlascharlesatlas Posts: 398member
    wood1208 said:
    Use true and tried method of of dropping at United States Postal Service. I did it today. Costs me 50 cents for federal and 50 cents for State.
    And hope it doesn't get lost in the mail.
    jbdragonnetmage
  • Reply 13 of 28
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    I filed early and often and already have most of you people’s refunds in my bank account.  B)
    zeus423
  • Reply 14 of 28
    foregoneconclusionforegoneconclusion Posts: 2,675member
    Congress controls the IRS budget, not the IRS. Out-of-date systems that fail = Congressional failure. 
    cecil444netmage
  • Reply 15 of 28
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    foregoneconclusion said:
    Congress controls the IRS budget, not the IRS. Out-of-date systems that fail = Congressional failure. 
    The IRS could be shut down and the US could move to something like the "Fair Tax". I'm not convinced it needs to be updated or saved.
    zeus423jbdragon
  • Reply 16 of 28
    65026502 Posts: 380member
    Only the little people pay taxes  :D.
    dewme
  • Reply 17 of 28
    stevenozstevenoz Posts: 314member
    I'm so glad I'm not the IRS web database IT guy...  he's sweatin'
  • Reply 18 of 28
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Congress controls the IRS budget, not the IRS. Out-of-date systems that fail = Congressional failure. 
    The IRS could be shut down and the US could move to something like the "Fair Tax". I'm not convinced it needs to be updated or saved.
    You always will need an IRS. Enforcement, Fraud Detection, keeping track of actual receipts for the GAO, dispute resolution. The IRS does much more than just process tax returns.
    edited April 2018 ktappe
  • Reply 19 of 28
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member

    asdasd said:
    Many countries don’t need the average worker to tax file. 
    A very fair point. A simpler tax code would allow most individuals to only have to interact with the IRS for dispute resolution. 
    jbdragon
  • Reply 20 of 28
    holmstockdholmstockd Posts: 84member
    asdasd said:
    bobroo said:
    "File your taxes in Ireland where it is cheaper".........Tim Cook
    You may want to look into that. Corporate taxes are not personal taxes. 
    LOL but... Corporations are people too... apparently. 
    tyler82ktappe
This discussion has been closed.