Tax season has officially arrived

They are available online at IRS.gov.

In addition to its reduced telephone service, GAO added that the IRS has “struggled to answer correspondence in a timely manner, and assistors increasingly either failed to send required correspondence to taxpayers or included inaccurate information in correspondence sent”.

Free File can also help you with the new health care requirements, and, if necessary, you can use it to file for a six-month extension. The Emancipation Day holiday in Washington, D.C., falls on Friday, April 15 so the IRS has pushed the deadline back until Monday, April 18.

“The biggest advantage of coming in early is that you get your refund quicker”, explained Bob Jaros, owner of Liberty Tax Service.

You can use Free File in conjunction with myRA – the new, free retirement savings account from the Treasury Department.

Taxpayers will have a few extra days to file their returns this year. Just use Form 8888 or follow your software product’s instructions.

For most folks, that means simply checking a box on the tax return form. Since its inception in 2014, the Identity Protection Program has stopped more than $100 million in fraudulent tax refund attempts.

If a taxpayer or anyone on their return purchased coverage from the Health Insurance Marketplace, they may be eligible for the premium tax credit. Check out the Tax Resource Center (http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/tax-resource-center) for information on filing your taxes and to find a BBB Accredited tax preparation business near you.

Tax Counseling for the Elderly, or TCE, also offers free tax help for all taxpayers but especially for those 60 and older.

“IRS.gov is the best place for taxpayers to go for information about filing their income tax returns this year”, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

Free File is available only at IRS.gov/FreeFile.

Well over 90 percent of all tax returns are prepared using tax return preparation software. Or, you can make an individual shared responsibility payment when filing the return.

Learn more at IRS.gov/aca.

Here are some other important dates to know as we head into tax season, from Fiscal Times. Callers pretending to be from the IRS aim to steal money or identities from their victims.

The criminals make unsolicited calls to taxpayers fraudulently claiming to be IRS officials and demanding that they send them cash via prepaid debit cards.