With the beginning of a new calendar year comes the beginning of a new tax year.

The deadline for employers to release W2’s to employees is January 31st, which starts the tax filing process. CPA Don Croghan in Knoxville tells KNIA/KRLS News about a new date that could be important to remember for some Marion County residents.

“In an attempt to reduce fraud in the tax system, the IRS this year is delaying refunds on those returns that claim earned income credit and certain child tax credits on their return. They won’t process that return until February 15th.”

The delay for those refunds will give time for the IRS to process the claims more efficiently with less clutter from other refunds. Croghan says filing taxes can be a fairly simple process for those with a simple return, but if the process is more complicated, it’s good to have a professional do the filing.

“We see stories all the time of people trying to do their own return and they just don’t understand what they’re doing and it ends up blowing up in their face. You know if a return is pretty simple you can probably do it yourself, but if there’s any kind of complications it doesn’t take much to pay for the preparation fee.”

The deadline for tax returns to be filed is April 18th.