The date that matters: when the IRS opens the season
The IRS does not accept individual returns on January 1. It opens the filing season on a date it announces in early January, once its systems are updated for the year's law changes. For the 2026 season that date was Monday, January 26, 2026 (IRS release IR-2026-12), and the seasons before it opened in the last week of January as well. Expect the 2027 season to open in the last week of January 2027; the IRS will name the day in its January announcement, and this page will carry it the day it is published. A return sent to a tax-software company before that date simply waits in a queue and is transmitted when the IRS opens. You lose nothing by preparing early, and you gain a place near the front.
One free route opens earlier. In 2026, IRS Free File (the guided software for taxpayers under the income limit) began accepting returns on January 9, holding them until the season opened. Free File Fillable Forms, the no-guidance option with no income limit, became available on opening day.
When your W-2 has to arrive
Employers must file Forms W-2 with the Social Security Administration and furnish a copy to each employee by January 31. The same date applies to Form 1099-NEC for contractors. When January 31 falls on a weekend the deadline moves to the next business day, which is why the 2026 deadline was February 2. In 2027, January 31 is a Sunday, so employers have until Monday, February 1, 2027. "Furnish" includes electronic delivery you have consented to, so check the payroll portal before the mailbox. Extensions for employers are not automatic; the IRS grants them only for specific hardships.
Other forms run later. Brokerages send consolidated Forms 1099 (dividends, interest, sales) by mid-February, and often issue corrected versions in March, the reason people with investment accounts file in March rather than January. Form 1095-A for marketplace health coverage and Form 1098 for mortgage interest arrive by the end of January or early February.
If the W-2 does not come
The IRS's own sequence (Topic 154) is: first contact the employer or payer and confirm the address they have on file. If the form still has not arrived after February ends, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 with your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number, and the employer's name, address and, if you know it, employer identification number. The IRS contacts the employer and sends you Form 4852, the substitute wage statement, which you complete from your final pay stub and file with the return. If the real W-2 arrives afterwards with different numbers, you file Form 1040-X to correct it. Do not file a return without the wages at all. Every W-2 is also sent to the IRS, and a return that omits one is corrected by notice later, with interest.
The season's other dates
- January 15, 2027: the fourth 2026 estimated-tax payment is due for anyone who pays quarterly. It is a Friday, so no shift.
- Last week of January: the IRS opens; e-filed returns start being accepted.
- February 1: W-2s and 1099-NECs furnished.
- Mid-February: by law the IRS cannot issue refunds on returns claiming the Earned Income Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit before mid-February. In 2026 the IRS said most such refunds would arrive by March 2; the 2027 date comes with the opening announcement. Our refund schedule applies it automatically.
- March 15, 2027: partnership and S corporation returns (Forms 1065 and 1120-S), which produce the Schedules K-1 that individual returns wait on.
- Thursday, April 15, 2027: individual returns and payment, the first 2027 estimated payment, and the last day to make a 2026 IRA or HSA contribution. April 15 is a Thursday in 2027; the District of Columbia's Emancipation Day falls on Friday the 16th, so it does not push the deadline as it has in some years.
- October 15, 2027: the extended deadline for anyone who files Form 4868 by April 15. An extension to file is never an extension to pay.
The full calendar, with every shift worked out, is in 2027 tax deadlines.
Filing early: what it does and does not do
Filing in the first week the IRS is open gets a refund into the first processing batches. Most e-filed refunds with direct deposit arrive within 21 days, and the earliest filers often see them in less. It also closes the window for identity thieves who file fraudulent returns under stolen Social Security numbers, because the IRS accepts only one return per number. What early filing cannot do is beat the PATH Act hold on EITC and ACTC refunds, or speed up a return that is missing a form. Filing with an estimate of a brokerage 1099 and amending later costs more time than waiting two weeks for the real one.
Key takeaways
- The IRS opens the season on a January date it announces in early January; 2026 opened January 26, and 2027 will be in the last week of January unless the IRS says otherwise.
- W-2s and 1099-NECs are due to you by February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday).
- Missing W-2: employer first, the IRS after February, Form 4852 if it never comes.
- Individual returns are due Thursday, April 15, 2027; extensions run to October 15.
- Prepare early, file when your forms are complete, choose direct deposit.
Sources
- IRS: IRS opens 2026 filing season (IR-2026-12): accepting returns January 26, 2026; refunds; EITC/ACTC by March 2: January 2026
- IRS: IRS announces first day of 2026 filing season (IR-2026-02): January 26 opening, IRS Free File from January 9, Fillable Forms from January 26: January 8, 2026
- IRS: Form W-2 and other wage statements deadline coming up for employers (January 31; no automatic extension): Tax Tip 2023-10
- IRS Topic 154: Form W-2 and Form 1099-R: what to do if incorrect or not received (Form 4852): 30-Mar-2026
- IRS: When to file (April 15; next business day when it falls on a weekend or legal holiday): 22-May-2026
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Federal holidays 2027: page read 3 Sep 2026