IRS will accept 2025 tax returns starting January 26

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN

(CNN) — If you’re hoping to file your 2025 federal income tax return as soon as possible, the first day the IRS will start accepting returns is Monday, January 26, the agency said on Thursday.

Not an early bird? No problem. You have until Wednesday, April 15 to file your return and pay any remaining taxes you still owe for last year.

But if you think you’ll need more time to file, just request an automatic six-month extension to avoid a failure-to-file penalty. Remember, though, that you still must pay any remaining taxes you owe to the IRS no later than April 15 to avoid the failure-to-pay penalty.

Filers who live or do business in a federally declared disaster area may get an automatic extension to file their 2025 taxes – but their new, extended deadlines will vary depending on when and where the disaster was. This page on the IRS site will have the latest information by state.

In any case, whenever you decide to prepare your 2025 tax return, you may want to take a little more time than usual doing so, because a number of tax changes were made under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law last July. And at least a few of them will affect you directly. [Here’s a rundown of the some of the most notable changes for individual filers that went into effect for 2025.]

“IRS information systems have been updated to incorporate the new tax laws and are ready to efficiently and effectively process taxpayer returns during the filing season,” said IRS CEO Frank Bisignano.

And if, like the majority of filers, you expect a refund, the fastest way to receive one will be to file electronically and to elect to receive your money via direct deposit. That has always been the case in recent years, but for the first time this year the IRS will not be issuing paper checks in most instances.

“The IRS strongly encourages taxpayers to establish a bank account to receive their tax refunds via direct deposit, because the IRS is phasing out paper tax refund checks due to the executive order, Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account,” the agency noted in its news release Thursday.

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