IRS Delays New Transcript Delivery System

The Internal Revenue Service has delayed a new tax return transcript delivery system that was scheduled to debut Monday.

The IRS announced the delay last Friday in an email to tax professionals, noting that the existing transcript delivery system would continue to operate as usual. The agency plans to issue a further communication when a new deployment date has been confirmed.

The arrival of the new TDS was heralded just recently by the IRS (see IRS Updating Its Transcript Delivery System). Highlights of the changes can be previewed in an online tutorial, which can be accessed on the IRS’s e-services Registration Services page, or via the toolbar after logging in to e-services, or on the e-services - Online Tools for Tax Professional page.

The new system promises to improve the delivery time of tax transcripts containing copies of previously filed tax returns and adjustments. The TDS is also supposed to provide increased capacity to compensate for the growing demand for tax transcripts and reduce the downtime associated with maintenance problems on the older system.