The IRS website for filing tax returns is experiencing technical issues as the filing deadline looms
- Parts of the Internal Revenue Service's online filing system are down.
- Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday that "a number of systems are unavailable at the moment."
- Tuesday is Tax Day, the deadline for taxpayers to file their 2017 federal taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) online tax return filing platform is experiencing technical issues on Tuesday, the same day that federal tax filings are due.
Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told members of Congress that some parts of the agency's online system were experiencing technical difficulties.
"On my way over here this morning, I was told a number of systems are unavailable at the moment," Kautter said during a hearing on Capitol Hill. "We are working to resolve the issue, and taxpayers should continue to file as they normally would."
The IRS' website for the Direct Pay option, which allows filers to pay taxes directly from a checking account to the agency, says that the option is "currently unavailable."
Tuesday is the deadline for filers to make payments to the IRS for their 2017 federal taxes and the deadline for businesses and self-employed persons to file their taxes for the first quarter of 2018.
Kautter said taxpayers should continue to try and file returns as normal, and the agency would ensure that there are no penalties for taxpayers who face technical issues.
"Taxpayers would not be penalized because of a technical problem the IRS is having," the action commissioner told lawmakers.
A spokesperson for the IRS declined to immediately comment on the outage.