Don't Mess With Taxes

If you're planning on efiling a tax document, you might want to get to it today.

The Internal Revenue Service is facing another furlough day tomorrow, Friday, June 14. All IRS employees will stay at home that day without pay in order for the agency to meet sequestration budget cuts.

Yep, for the second time this year, the IRS is closing all its doors nationwide.

That includes not only IRS offices, but also the agency's nearly 400 taxpayer assistance centers across the country as well as Taxpayer Advocate Service facilities.

No tax returns will be processed and no compliance-related activities will take place.

And without staff on hand the IRS' toll-free hotlines also will go unanswered.

Online tax options affected: If you're thinking no big deal, I'll just handle everything online, you might need to think again.

Businesses that must make employment and excise tax deposits can continue to do so because the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) through which these payments are made will be operational on June 14.

You'll also be able to go to IRS.gov and order a tax transcript and use the online look-up tool if you need to repay the first-time home-buyer credit.

And the site's withholding calculator, earned income tax credit (EITC) eligibility tool and Interactive Tax Assistant will be working while the agency's employees are at home on Friday.

And if you want to check the status of your refund via the IRS' online Where's My Refund? tracking tool or make arrangements to pay a tax bill online using the agency's Online Payment Agreement, you're out of luck.

Efilers also will be locked out on Friday.

The IRS says the furlough shutdown means that its Modernized eFile (MeF) system will not be available from 10 p.m. Eastern Time today, June 13, until 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 15.

To ensure that a return you efile today is accepted before the furlough day begins, the IRS says you need to get it to them by 8 p.m. ET. The deadline for getting acknowledgement of electronically transmitted documents is 10 p.m. ET today.

Since time's ticking away, I'll let you go now and get to work before the IRS clocks out for furlough day two.

And to help you be ready for the remaining furlough days -- unless Congress acts (yeah, right) -- mark July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30 on your calendars.

Closed sign photo by Alan Cleaver via Flicker

You also might find these items of interest:

• IRS furloughs begin
• Sequestration's blunt and indiscriminate budget cuts
• How would your state fare under sequestration?