The IRS on Friday announced Jan. 27 as the official start date of the 2025 tax season, and expects more than 140 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline.

The announcement comes with agency in the midst of a massive overhaul, attempting to improve its technology and customer service processes with tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022.

The IRS said it is expanding its program that allows people to file their taxes directly with the agency for free. The federal tax collector’s Direct File program, which allows taxpayers to calculate and submit their returns to the government directly without using commercial tax preparation software, will be available to taxpayers in 25 states starting Jan. 27, up from 12 states that were part of last year’s pilot program.

The pilot program in 2024 allowed people in certain states with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS. Those using the program claimed more than $90 million in refunds, the IRS said in October.

The IRS expects most refunds to be issued in less than 21 days. The agency says taxpayers can use Where’s My Refund? to check the status of their 2024 income tax refund within 24 hours of e-filing. Refund information is normally available after four weeks for taxpayers who filed a paper return.

The agency also said it expects to maintain levels of service achieved in the past, including wait times of less than 5 minutes for assistance.

Two goals for the upcoming tax filing season are to offer 10,000 extended office hours and to expand the IRS rural outreach program by 20%, increasing the number of returns prepared. The agency said it also continues to simplify notifications to make language simpler to understand.

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel also said the IRS is working to improve public awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit, stating that nearly 1 in 5 eligible taxpayers don’t claim it because they don’t know about it or realize they qualify.

As in past years, the IRS also urges filers to guard against tax scams, stating that bad actors proliferate during filing season, making false promises of tax help or fake threats to get people to pay penalties they don’t owe. Filers can visit IRS.gov and search “scams” for the latest information.

Multiyear supplemental funding provided by Congress allows the IRS to maintain its current staffing levels, the commissioner said on the call, adding that the IRS’s technology and tools will stagnate if the funding is eliminated.

“This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS,” Commissioner Werfel said. “More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.”

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