E-Filing with 8863

[Peggy Cobb]

I am wondering if the Educational Credit on 8863 is delayed for e-filing because of the AMT change. Does anyone know if this is the case or is ATX slow in getting it approved?

Thanks,

Peggy Cobb

Mount Vernon, WA

[Gregster]

I am wondering if the Educational Credit on 8863 is delayed for e-filing because of the AMT change. Does anyone know if this is the case or is ATX slow in getting it approved?

Thanks,

Peggy Cobb

Mount Vernon, WA

Filing Season Opens on Time Except for Certain Taxpayers Potentially Affected by

AMT Patch

IR-2007-209, Dec. 27, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that the upcoming tax

season is expected to start on time for everyone except certain taxpayers

potentially affected by late enactment of the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch.”

Following extensive work in recent weeks, the IRS expects to be able to begin

processing returns for the vast majority of taxpayers in mid-January. However, as

many as 13.5 million taxpayers using five forms related to the Alternative Minimum

Tax (AMT) legislation will have to wait to file tax returns until the IRS completes

the reprogramming of its systems for the new law.

The IRS has targeted Feb. 11, as the potential starting date for taxpayers to begin

submitting the five AMT-related returns affected by the legislation. The February

date allows the IRS enough time to update and test its systems to accommodate the

AMT changes without major disruptions to other operations related to the tax

season. As the IRS has said previously, it will take approximately seven weeks

after the AMT patch was approved to update IRS processing systems completely.

Although as many as 13.5 million taxpayers will not be able to file their returns

until Feb. 11, the effect of the delay may be lessened by the fact that under

previous filing patterns only between 3 million to 4 million taxpayers file returns

with the five affected forms during these early weeks in the filing season.

“We regret the inconvenience the delay will mean for millions of early tax filers,

especially those expecting a refund,” said Linda Stiff, Acting IRS Commissioner.

“We’ve taken extraordinary steps to figure out a way that we can start the filing

season on time for most taxpayers, including some using AMT-related forms. Our

goal has always been to make sure we can accurately process tax returns while

getting refunds to taxpayers as quickly as possible.”

The February delay caused by the AMT patch will affect taxpayers using any of these

five forms:

Form 8863, Education Credits.

Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits.

Form 1040A’s Schedule 2, Child and Dependent Care Expenses for Form 1040A Filers.

Form 8396, Mortgage Interest Credit.

Form 8859, District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit.While these five forms require significant additional reprogramming due to the AMT

patch, the IRS has been able to reprogram its systems to begin processing seven

other AMT-related forms, including Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax –

Individuals. Taxpayers filing these seven forms should not experience delays in

filing, and the IRS expects to begin processing those returns starting on Jan. 14.

Electronic returns involving those five forms will not be accepted until systems

are updated in February; similarly, paper filers should wait to file as well. All

other e-file and paper returns will be accepted starting in January. The IRS urges

affected taxpayers to file electronically in order to reduce wait times for their

refunds. E-file with direct deposit gets refunds in as little as 10 days, while

paper returns take four to six weeks.