The Internal Revenue Service’s online tax filing systems failed widely on Tax Day because of a hardware “glitch” in the part of the agency’s operating system that houses taxpayers’ personal tax records, according to the tax collection agency. The impact of the problem spread because several other IRS systems rely on data from the agency’s “master file” to function, the IRS said in a statement to The Washington Post. For much of the day, access was blocked for filers who use online tax preparation software, such as TurboTax or tools from H&R Block, or pay their taxes directly to the IRS online. Mark W. Everson, another former IRS commissioner, also said he was unaware of any comparable past IRS failures on Tax Day. How do you have this computer problem on the most important tax day of the year?” Jordan said.

Source: Washington Post April 18, 2018 23:26 UTC