01/02/2026
Please understand that tax returns are not being sent to the IRS tomorrow. The IRS has not announced an official opening date yet.
What is happening tomorrow is that tax companies are opening to start cash advances. To receive a cash advance, your return must be ready to file, because once it’s submitted for an advance, the return is locked and will be transmitted as soon as the IRS opens.
Back in the day, people would rush to submit information to try to beat the other parent to claiming a dependent. That no longer works. The IRS now allows both returns to be submitted, and the person who actually qualifies to claim the dependent will receive their money faster. The other person will likely end up audited and required to pay the money back, and that process is happening quicker than ever.
My advice is to wait until you have all of your documents. There has already been talk in the tax streets that the IRS will be flagging more returns for mismatched or missing documents.
Please remember, a lot of tax pros will say anything just to get you to try them.
Choose wisely.
