Government Shutdown Expected to Impact Tax Refunds
If you're expecting an income tax refund check in the mail this year, you may want to wait before you buy anything big. Because of the partial government shutdown, no refunds are being issued. The shutdown of the federal government has most employees of the Internal Revenue Service either sitting at home or working without a paycheck.
And to make matters even more complicated, the partial IRS shutdown comes as the agency begins to implement the massive 'Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Bill of 2017'. For tax preparers, that means because of the furlough, finding out the particular details is tough, if not impossible. Because only a quarter of the IRS workforce is working, it's almost impossible to get any information heading into the income tax filing season.
For individual taxpayers, we may start to feel the effects of the shutdown over the next few weeks - particularly when it comes to tax refunds. The filing deadline remains the same - April 15th, but tax refunds will likely be delayed if the shutdown drags out. If, by chance, you owe the government anything - too bad. You need to pay - furlough or not.
Source: Associated Press