CHARLESTON – Following last week’s tax law changes, the Internal Revenue Service announced the upcoming tax season will start on time for most people, but taxpayers affected by three recently reinstated deductions need to wait until mid- to late February to file their individual tax returns.

In addition, taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A will need to wait until mid- to late February to file, as well.

The start of the 2011 filing season will begin in January for the majority of taxpayers. But changes in the law mean that the IRS will need to reprogram its processing systems for three provisions that were extended in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 that became law on Dec. 17.

People claiming any of these three items – involving the state and local sales tax deduction, higher education tuition and fees deduction and educator expenses deduction as well as those taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 – will need to wait to file their tax returns until tax processing systems are ready, which the IRS estimates will be in mid- to late February.

The IRS will announce a specific date in the near future when it can start processing tax returns impacted by the late tax law changes. In the interim, people in the affected categories can start working on their tax returns, but they should not submit their returns until IRS systems are ready to process the new tax law changes.

The IRS urged taxpayers to use e-file instead of paper tax forms to minimize confusion over the recent tax changes and ensure accurate tax returns.

Taxpayers will need to wait to file if they are within any of the following three categories:

Taxpayers claiming itemized deductions on Schedule A.

Taxpayers claiming the Higher Education Tuition and Fees Deduction.

Taxpayers claiming the Educator Expense Deduction.

Updated information will be posted on IRS.gov. This will include an updated copy of Schedule A as well as updated state and local sales tax tables. Several other forms used by relatively few taxpayers are also affected by the recent changes, and more details are available on IRS.gov.