If you like to take care of your taxes right away each year, heads-up: The IRS has delayed the start of tax filing season to February 12th in 2021.

My husband Charlie is one of those "file immediately once you get your W-2" kind of folks, while I've always been more of a "wait until the last minute, because I'm a procrastinator and taxes are hard" kind of people. Since we got married though, and now file jointly, he handles our filing and I get it now -- it means you get your tax return earlier (if you're getting one)!

This year though, we'll all have to wait a bit. As Fox 17 reports, the IRS says it will begin accepting and processing 2020 tax year returns on Feb. 12, 2021 --  That process is usually initiated in late January.

The IRS announced the news Friday, saying,

The February 12 start date for individual tax return filers allows the IRS time to do additional programming and testing of IRS systems following the December 27 tax law changes that provided a second round of Economic Impact Payments and other benefits.

They warn,

If filing season were opened without the correct programming in place, then there could be a delay in issuing refunds to taxpayers. These changes ensure that eligible people will receive any remaining stimulus money as a Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their 2020 tax return.

The IRS recommends that taxpayers file electronically with direct deposit as soon as they have the information they need.

So we can all begin filing our tax returns immediately with tax software companies, but the IRS won't actually start processing them until Feb. 12. 

So when will we start getting those refunds?

The IRS says that overall, they anticipate 9 out of 10 people will get their refund within 21 days of when they file electronically with direct deposit if there are no issues with their tax return.

You can check Where's My Refund for your personalized refund date.

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LOOK: Just some of the photos that capture the historic year that was 2020

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