Tax filing season to start Jan. 19

The 2016 tax season will start on time in January following the enactment of a $1.8 trillion tax and spending package, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.

The IRS will begin accepting individual electronic returns on Jan. 19. The deadline to submit 2015 tax returns will be April 18 in most states, since Washington, D.C., will celebrate Emancipation Day on the traditional tax due date of April 15. The deadline will be April 19 in Maine and Massachusetts because those states will celebrate Patriots’ Day on the previous day.

{mosads}The announcement of the tax season schedule came after President Obama on Friday signed legislation that permanently extends nearly two dozen tax breaks and renews other provisions through 2016 or 2019. Had Congress failed to pass a bill renewing expired tax breaks this year, the tax season could have been delayed.

The newly signed legislation “provides certainty for planning purposes, which will help taxpayers and the tax community as well as the IRS,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement on Monday.

Earlier this year, the agency reported that hackers had accessed the tax returns of more than 300,000 taxpayers. The IRS said that it “has been working closely with the tax industry and state revenue departments to provide stronger protections against identity theft for taxpayers during the coming filing season.”

The new spending law includes an additional $290 million for the IRS in fiscal 2016 that is dedicated to improving taxpayer services, fraud prevention and cybersecurity.