Thanks to a tip from writer and tax attorney Kelly Phillips Erb, we confirmed a series of confusing and potentially misleading errors on the IRS website just days before the tax filing deadline.

What’s going on

Tax professionals are reporting, and we’ve verified, that when logging into a taxpayer’s online account on IRS.gov, the system displays April 22, 2025, as the extension payment due date instead of the correct April 15, 2025, deadline.

One possible explanation is that April 22 may refer to the five-business-day window to “perfect” a failed e-file submission. In these situations, while the original filing must still be submitted by April 15, the IRS allows until April 22 to correct errors and resubmit without late filing penalties. However, the site does not explain this situation, and the message lacks context.

Additional problems found include:

• Mislabeling the amended return as “104X” (instead of Form 1040-X)
• Some are seeing a message that implies returns already filed and processed returns for 2022 and 2023 are still being processed

Why this matters

This misinformation could easily lead taxpayers and preparers to mistakenly delay extension payments until April 22, risking late payment penalties and interest. With no clear explanation on the page, this error is misleading and problematic for those relying on IRS guidance.

What we’re doing

We’ve raised these concerns with our IRS contact and requested immediate clarification and corrections to avoid further confusion during this critical time. We’ll monitor the situation and update you with any developments.

Please remind your clients that April 15 remains the official deadline for filing and extension payments.

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Question: Philip works in the food industry as a Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, employee. In 2024, he had to buy uniforms and boots; he spent $1,200. Philip told his tax preparer those expenses were out-of-pocket, and his employer did not reimburse him. Philip also told his tax preparer he had seen a video on Facebook where someone said taxpayers could deduct employee expenses on their tax return for 2024 by filing Form 2106, Employee Business Expenses. Can Philip file Form 2106 and claim a deduction of $1,200?

Answer: No, Philip cannot deduct the expenses using Form 2106. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), for tax years 2018 through 2025, unreimbursed employee business expenses, including work uniforms and boots, are considered miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% of AGI floor and are not deductible [§67(g)]. Only specific individuals, such as Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses, may still use Form 2106.

Since Philip does not fall into these categories, he cannot use Form 2106 to deduct the $1,200 expense on his tax return.

Almost all securities sales conclude with the seller either making or losing money on the transaction. Determining that profit or loss means the investor – or their tax professional – will need to know their basis in the assets, usually the amount initially invested in the security.

Unfortunately, many investors do a poor job of tracking their basis in securities investments and leave themselves and their tax preparers scrambling to find the necessary information at the same time they are preparing the investor’s taxes. That makes the months following the annual income tax filing deadline a great time for tax preparers to remind their clients to collect the information necessary to track their basis in investments going forward. This will both assist with future tax reporting and allow gains and losses to be more easily tracked.

Required basis reporting

Since 2012, brokerage firms have been required to track the adjusted basis of their client’s publicly traded securities. However, there are situations where those brokerage statements will not properly reflect the taxpayer’s basis in an investment. For example, if the taxpayer moved between brokers or has chosen to invest in non-publicly traded securities, their brokers’ statements may not provide a correct accounting of their basis.

Calculating cost basis

The starting point for calculating an investor’s cost basis in a security for tax purposes is usually the asset’s original cost. While this is a straightforward concept, certain events could change their cost basis. For example, a two-for-one stock split will reduce the investor’s basis by half. The fees associated with selling the security may also be included in the basis. Finally, automatically reinvested dividends can increase a taxpayer’s basis in securities.

A common issue faced by investors when calculating the gain or loss on the sale of an investment is when the sale involves securities that were purchased at different times for different amounts. In these situations, there are three primary methods for calculating the basis for the shares sold:

1. First-in-first-out (FIFO) method. This is usually the default method for calculating the basis of securities sold because it is usually the easiest. Under the FIFO method, it is assumed that the oldest securities are sold first, and it is assumed all of those shares are sold before the basis of more recently purchased securities is used.

2. Average cost basis method. Using this method allows the taxpayer to use the average purchase price for all of the securities they hold at the time of the sale to determine their basis in the securities.

3. Specific shares method. This is often the most complicated method of determining the basis of securities purchased in multiple transactions. It requires the taxpayer to provide the broker with instructions on which specific shares to be sold and maintaining detailed records of those sales. However, the specific shares method gives the seller more control over how their basis is calculated.

While it can be time-consuming for a taxpayer to track their basis in their securities investment, those records will be necessary if the IRS questions their basis calculations. If neither the taxpayer nor the IRS can come up with a satisfactory cost basis for securities that have been sold, the agency will assume the basis is zero and the entire amount received will be treated as taxable gains. This also means that it will be impossible to claim a loss on a sale because the taxpayer will have no basis.

For more information on calculating basis and capital gains and losses for securities and other capital assets, check out our introduction to Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses, self-study. The self-study is free to NATP’s premium members.