The Internal Revenue Service has set a date – for the start of the 2024 tax season – and the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2023 tax returns on Monday, January 29th; more than 128.7 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed by the April 15th deadline – according to the agency.

Although the IRS won’t officially accept and process the tax returns until the 29th, you won’t have to wait until then to start – as most tax software companies accept electronic submissions – and then they just hold them, until the IRS is ready to begin processing later this month.

IRS Free File will also be available on IRS.gov starting January 12th, and there’s also IRS Free File Guided Tax Software at IRS.gov which is for any taxpayer or family with the Adjusted Gross Income of $79,000 or less in 2023.

Starting January 29th – Free File Fillable forms are available at no cost to any income level – providing electronic forms that people can fill out and e-file themselves also at no cost.

The IRS issues most tax refunds in less than 21 days – but, certain credits can delay that process.  By law, the IRS cannot issue Earned Income Tax Credits or Additional Child Tax Credit refunds before mid-February, due to security issues; filers claiming these credits – can expect their refunds to be in their bank account or via debit card by February the 27th should they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with their return.