The IRS opened the tax filing season for taxpayers on Monday, January 24, with an urgent reminder to taxpayers to take extra precautions this year to file an accurate tax return electronically to help speed refunds [IR-2022-18, 1-24-22].
The start of this year’s tax season—which took place earlier than last year’s February 12 opening—means the IRS is now accepting and processing 2021 tax returns from individual taxpayers. The IRS expects more than 160 million individual tax returns for the 2021 tax year will be filed, with most before the April 18 tax deadline.
Payroll professionals may be receiving questions from employees about the status of their 2021 Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, now that the filing season has opened. Employers must furnish Form W-2 Copies B, C, and 2 to each person who was an employee during 2021 by January 31, 2022. Copy A must be filed with the Social Security Administration by January 31, 2022.
April 18 deadline for 2022
Most taxpayers will have a Monday, April 18 deadline in 2022 due to the Emancipation Day holiday in Washington, D.C., falling on Friday, April 15. Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts will have an April 19 deadline due to Patriots’ Day; some disaster victims will have later filing deadlines (see the IRS’s Tax Relief in Disaster Situations webpage for more information).
To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company's payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!
Jyme Mariani, Esq., is Managing Editor of Payroll Currently and Senior Manager of Payroll Information Resources for the APA.
