​​​​The Internal Revenue Service announced its tax season will begin Monday, January 23, 2017. Similarly, Wisconsin will officially begin processing 2016 individual income tax returns on January 23.

Many software companies and tax professionals will prepare tax returns before January 23, however they cannot submit the electronic returns to the IRS and Wisconsin until the systems open. There is no advantage to submitting paper tax returns before January 23; the IRS and DOR will begin processing paper tax returns at the same time.

When processing begins, Wisconsin will issue refunds as soon as it has all information needed to correctly process the return or claim. However, the IRS is required by law to hold refunds for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) until February 15.

The filing deadline to submit 2016 tax returns is Tuesday, April 18, 2017, since April 15, 16, and 17 are on a weekend or a federally observed holiday.

December 20, 2016