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April 17, 2018 at 03:11 PM
IRS building in Washington.
The Internal Revenue Service’s online filing system was malfunctioning on Tuesday — the day tax returns are due for most taxpayers.
“Currently, certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties,” the IRS said in a statement. “Taxpayers should continue filing their tax returns as they normally would.”
Every year the IRS processes more than 120 million tax returns that arrive by mid-April and spits back some $300 billion in refunds. Tax Day is on April 17 this year, since April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was a holiday in Washington.
The IRS is currently unable to accept information transmitted from software providers, David Kautter, acting commissioner of the IRS, said after testifying at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. He said taxpayers won’t be penalized because of the issue.
“On my way over here this morning, I was told a number of systems are down at the moment,” Kautter said during the hearing. The problem was discovered in the early morning hours between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., according to Kautter.
The IRS is unsure whether a hardware or software issue is to blame, or if it was a cybersecurity issue — but indications are that the problem is internal, Kautter said.
