IRS Notice: Erroneous Rejection of a Small Number of 1040 Returns on January 22–23

 The IRS has advised that a limited number of individual income tax returns (Form 1040) transmitted on January 22 or January 23, 2026, were erroneously rejected by the Modernized eFile (MeF) system.

Affected submissions received the following rejection error message:

R0000‑120
The IRS Submission type that was filed is not being accepted by Modernized e‑File (MeF) at this time. Please check the MeF web page under irs.gov for more information. The submission type filed was 1040.

According to the IRS, the rejection was caused by a temporary processing issue withing MeF. It was not related to tax return data or software settings.

What You Need to Do

Tax professionals with impacted submissions should:

• Re-create the affected e-file, and
• Re-transmit through the normal electronic filing process.

No changes to the return are required unless prompted by standard validation checks. Re-submitted returns are expected process normally.

Important Notes

• Only a limited number of returns transmitted during the affected timeframe were impacted.
• The ROOOO-120 rejection does not indicate any issue with taxpayer eligibility, return completeness, or software compliance.
• No further IRS action is required once the return is successfully re-filed.

Preparers should review rejected acknowledgments for returns transmitted January 22–23 and re-transmit any return that received the R0000120 rejection.

IRS will no longer send checks directly to TaxPayers anymore

This is a reminder that the IRS is no longer issueing paper checks to Taxpayers for their IRS Tax Refund.  This means that your clients can only receive their tax refund by direct deposit.  If you client has to receive their refund by a paper check, the only option you will have is to use a Bank to allow you to print the check in your office.

For the official newsletter from IRS here is a direct link: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-to-phase-out-paper-tax-refund-checks-starting-with-individual-taxpayers

If you already offer bank products, then you already have the tools to offer your clients a printed check in your office.  However, if you have never offered bank products this is something you should strongly consider at least having as an option for your clients this coming tax year.  There is never a fee to you, the ERO, for signin up to offer this service to your clients.

We strongly recommend if you want the cheapest possible bank to use to offer this service to your clients, we highly recommend our new EPS banking partner.  To enroll with them, simply log into your account on https://surefiretaxsoftware.com and click on Billing/Products, then make sure you are on TaxYear 2025 and you will see option for "Submit Bank Application"

If you ever have questions feel free to send a direct email to support@surefiretaxsoftware.com

IRS announces Jan. 27 start to 2025 tax filing season

original post: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-jan-27-start-to-2025-tax-filing-season-agency-continues-historic-improvements-to-expand-enhance-tools-and-filing-options-to-help-taxpayers#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Internal%20Revenue%20Service,the%20agency's%20historic%20modernization%20efforts. IR-2025-08, Jan. 10, 2025 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced that the nation’s 2025 tax season will start on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, and will feature expanded and enhanced tools to help taxpayers as a result of the agency’s historic modernization efforts. The IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns for tax year 2024 to be filed ahead of the Tuesday, April 15 federal deadline. More than half of all tax returns are expected to be filed this year with the help of a tax professional, and the IRS urges people to use a trusted tax pro to avoid potential scams and schemes. The 2025 tax filing season will reflect continued IRS progress to modernize and add new tools and features to help taxpayers. Since last tax season, the improvements include more access to tax account information from text and voice virtual assistants, expanded features on the IRS Individual Online Account, more access to dozens of tax forms through cell phones and tablets and expanded alerts for scams and schemes that threaten taxpayers. The IRS has also expanded features and availability of last year’s Direct File program. This year, Direct File will be available starting Jan. 27 to taxpayers in 25 states. In addition, the IRS Free File program opens today. Available only on IRS.gov, IRS Free File Guided Tax Software provides millions of taxpayers nationwide access to free software tools offered by trusted IRS Free File partners. The IRS is also working to continue the success of the 2023 and 2024 tax filing seasons made possible with additional resources. The past two filing seasons saw levels of service at roughly 85% and wait times averaging less than 5 minutes on the main phone lines, as well as significant increases in the number of taxpayers served at Taxpayer Assistance Centers across the country. Based the on IRS’ current plan and funding levels, the agency will work to provide similar levels of performance on these key service metrics in the upcoming filing season. “This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them with filing their taxes this tax season,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.” The Get Ready page on IRS.gov highlights steps taxpayers can take now to streamline the filing process and the many resources available to interact with the IRS before, during and after filing their federal tax return.

Schedule 8812 Reject - Hold these returns

IRS has identified an issue with the following reject. 

  Schedule 8812 (Form 1040), 'OtherDependentCnt' must be equal to the number of dependents with 'EligibleForODCInd' checked in the return. 

 Reject Code: S8812-F1040-014 

 If you see this message, please do not resubmit until the IRS has a fix in place. We will post an update once we have confirmed the fix with the IRS. It would be safe to assume it would be in the next US Individual Update as long as IRS fixes it on their end.

IRS Sets January 23 as official start to 2023

 IRS has announced the official start of EFILE. HUB testing will tentatively begin next week around January 18th.  All returns, and loans, that are sitting at the EFC are expected to be pushed through around this time frame.

 

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-sets-january-23-as-official-start-to-2023-tax-filing-season-more-help-available-for-taxpayers-this-year

Urgent Reminder: EFC and IRS E-filing Shutdown for TY 2019-2021 - Individual Returns

IRS has announced its MeF (e-file) shutdown and cutover for Tax Year 2021. To ensure that all Form 1040 tax returns e-filed through the MeF system are processed in a timely manner, submissions must occur before IRS shuts down the system on Saturday, November 26, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

In order to allow the states ample time for processing these returns, the E-File Center (EFC) will stop accepting individual returns (both federal and state) for the current processing year on Tuesday, November 22nd at 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

1040 E-file submissions for Tax Years 2019, 2020 and 2021 are included in this change. Because not all state agencies process returns in “real-time”, this schedule should allow sufficient time for agencies to post their acknowledgements for the WK EFC to pick up. 

After the shutdown occurs, the EFC will not accept individual returns (federal and/or state) until IRS comes back online in early January 2023. However, preparers can continue picking up acknowledgments through mid-December.

Important to Note:

 

• Tax Year 2019 returns will no longer be eligible for e-filing by the EFC after Tuesday, November 22nd at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. Any acknowledgments must be retrieved by the user no later than mid-December for TY19 e-files. EFC for TY19 will not be available after mid-December 2022 to pick up these acks.

• Business Returns: Business returns are not affected by this schedule as IRS has not yet announced the business cutover schedule and will do so at a later time.

• Disaster Relief Extension to File: This shutdown will also affect taxpayers who received a disaster relief extension to file. If the disaster's extended due date falls within this shutdown time frame, you must do one of the following:
• Submit the returns electronically before the shutdown begins.
• Hold the return and transmit it when the IRS reopens in January.
• File them on paper after the shutdown.  If filed on paper, applicable opt-out documentation may be necessary. Please consult the taxing authority guidelines on how to opt out of electronic filing.