Raleigh, N.C.— The North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) will follow the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and officially open the 2021 individual income tax filing season and begin accepting and processing individual income tax returns on Friday, Feb. 12. Tax processing procedures and guidelines force the NCDOR to follow the IRS opening.
Taxpayers who file before the opening date will receive their acknowledgements for electronically filed (eFiled) returns beginning Feb.12.
According to the IRS, tax season will begin later than usual because they need time to do additional programming and testing of their systems following the Dec. 27 tax law changes that provided a second round of Economic Impact Payments.
Taxpayers are encouraged to file their taxes electronically; it is safer, more convenient, and more accurate than traditional paper filing. Free online filing (eFile) options for qualified taxpayers are available through the NCDOR.gov website using NCfreefile. Eligibility requirements for NCfreefile are available at: https://www.ncdor.gov/ncfreefile. Note: taxpayers must start at the agency website, www.ncdor.gov, to file their taxes electronically with NCfreefile.
Due to the NCDOR’s enhanced identity theft protection measures, some refunds may take longer than normal, which is 6 weeks for electronically-filed returns and 12 weeks for paper returns. Filing returns early also reduces the risk of tax refund fraud.
Tax returns are due this year on Thursday, April 15. Learn more about filing individual income tax returns electronically.