Illinois delays start of tax filing

The Illinois Department of Revenue has announced that Illinois taxpayers won’t be able to file their 2013 income taxes until the end of January — a two-week delay.

The delay follows a similar federal postponement. Refunds and the April 15 filing deadline aren’t affected.

The Internal Revenue Service is delaying the start of the tax-filing season because of last year’s government shutdown that furloughed workers who were programming and testing tax-processing systems.

Now, state and federal returns can be filed starting Jan. 31.

Sue Hofer, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue, says the two-week delay isn’t expected to cause problems in Illinois because “very few people file in January anyway.” About 80 percent of Illinois returns were filed electronically in 2013.

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