After the government shutdown this weekend, many had questions about how the IRS would be affected. The shutdown was still in effect yesterday, but was lifted last night with President Trump reinstating government funds until the 8th of February. With a little over a week before the filing deadline for 1099-MISC forms with a Box 7 amount, here’s what you need to know about how your filing might have been affected if the shutdown had continued:
- Real-time TIN matching: In a shutdown, the government labels TIN matching “non-essential.” This means that TIN matching results will be delayed. Tax1099 typically returns TIN matching results to your account within 48 hours, even when the IRS’ system is functioning under high traffic. TIN matching is an important way to check vendor information against the IRS database, and is one of the primary ways to avoid penalties for filing incorrect vendor information. Processing a TIN match often qualifies as a “good faith” effort to file with accurate information. Without TIN matching, many more filers would likely be issued penalties following their filing.
- Customer service: The IRS may not be known for quick response times, but in a shutdown, the customer service department of the IRS would be closed for questions. Tax1099 is in constant contact with the IRS during this time of year on your behalf, so we’re overjoyed to have that connection re-established.
- eFiling: On Monday, we were informed that eFiling would not immediately be impacted by the shutdown. Understandably, the government considers the acceptance of informational returns an essential government activity. This means that filers could continue to submit forms to the IRS through Tax1099.
The extension of government funding through February 8th allows your filing process to proceed as usual. We constantly monitor situations connected to your eFiling process, so that we can be ready to inform you of any changes to your tax season. We look forward to serving you this tax season. If you have any questions for us, please live chat with us from any page on Tax1099. Happy filing!