The IRS said today that its processing systems are running normally again after an outage yesterday that prevented many taxpayers from submitting their returns online.
According to the IRS, a hardware issue created the outage yesterday that caused many users to see an error message that said, “This service is temporarily unavailable. We are working to resolve the issue. Please come back later and try again, or you can visit the Make a Payment page for alternative payment methods. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
The IRS granted an extension through midnight tonight (April 18) to file returns because of the outage. As of 9 a.m. today, the IRS has accepted more than 14 million tax submissions since processing systems reopened. As the midnight April 18 deadline approaches, the IRS reminds taxpayers that help is available at IRS.gov, including automatic six-month extensions to file.
“IRS teams worked hard throughout the night,” Acting Commissioner David Kautter said. “We are back up and running. The overnight performance means that the IRS is current with all of the tax submissions, and no backlog remains. The IRS appreciates the patience from taxpayers as well as the help and support of the nation’s tax professionals and software transmitters during this period.”