Many people are getting their receipts and paperwork together to file their taxes well ahead of the April deadline, only to find out that the Internal Revenue Service is having some technical difficulties with their online filing system.

The issue seems to stem from the IRS' Where's My Refund tool and when electronic filers can expect their refund to arrive. When people have filed and then log back into the system to check their status, they are told that the IRS has no information about their tax return.

This is scary and frustrating for people who have filed their taxes and are concerned about where their tax return ended up. The IRS has acknowledged the problem and has reassured people that this is a temporary glitch and that they have received the tax information that has been filed, but the site is not reflecting it. In addition, the IRS does not want tax payers to call them about this issue, because the matter should be resolved. Refunds will be issued within 10-21 days as it says on the site when you file.

The glitch has affected people who filed electronically Jan. 17-25 and chose the option of direct deposit for their refund.

People should be assured that if they filed through TurboTax and received an acknowledgment that their return was accepted, they will not need to file their return again.

This latest glitch is blamed on a recently upgraded system that the IRS installed prior to the tax season.  So far this has been the only issue with the upgraded system.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, "IRS has trouble with e-file system," Kathleen Pender, Feb. 16, 2012