Friday, October 16, 2020

E-file schedule this weekend

 The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the modernized e-file (MeF) system will be temporarily unavailable for a time this weekend due to scheduled maintenance. As a result, federal and Rhode Island e-filing will be unavailable during the period.

The MeF system shutdown begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow, Saturday, October 17, 2020, and is scheduled to end at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, October 18, 2020.

The IRS will not be accepting electronically filed federal tax returns during the period. Also, the joint fed-state e-file program will be unavailable during the period. Therefore, Rhode Island returns transmitted via e-file during the period will not be transmitted to the state. Tax preparers and taxpayers should plan accordingly.

  • The joint fed-state e-file program is a cooperative tax-filing effort between the IRS and most states, including Rhode Island. In general, it allows for federal and state returns to be e-filed simultaneously to the IRS. Once the returns are filed, the IRS keeps the federal portion; the state portion is passed along electronically to the applicable state.