what is tax season 
tax season is the period of time generally between jan 1 and april 15 of each year when individual taxpayers prepare to report their taxable income to the federal government and in most cases to the government of the state in which they live tax day in the u s is usually april 15 if that date falls on a weekend the deadline is delayed until the following monday the deadline has sometimes been extended for some or all filers the federal tax deadline for residents of 55 california counties was delayed until nov 16 2023 due to a winter storm disaster declaration in 2020 all u s taxpayers got a three month postponement for filing their 2019 taxes due to the onset of the covid pandemic tax returns submitted after the deadline are subject to late penalty fees and interest charges extensions are available but they delay only the filing of the paperwork not the payment of any taxes owed the next tax season begins on jan 1 2024 with a filing deadline of monday april 15 2024 the irs advises that all taxpayers keep copies of their prior year tax returns for at least three years in the event of an irs audit a taxpayer will be required to present the last three years of their documents in extreme cases such as suspicion of fraud they will be expected to show seven years of documents understanding tax seasonnobody expects you to spend three and a half months working on your taxes tax season is meant to provide time for employers banks financial services providers and other entities to collate and distribute all of the information individual taxpayers need to file their returns the deadline for employers to send w 2s to their employees is january 31 businesses that hire independent contractors must send these nonemployees form 1099 nec this form replaced 1099 misc which remains in effect for income received from rent and prizes among other sources independent contractors must file a return and pay self employment taxes on any net earnings from self employment of 400 or more extensionsthe irs has occasionally extended the usual mid april deadline for some or all taxpayers for a number of reasons in 2021 residents and businesses in parts of texas got a two month extension on the tax deadline after severe snowstorms caused a federal disaster declaration to be declared the following spring storms caused enough damage in tennessee and parts of alabama and kentucky to require further extensions to taxpayers in those areas 