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Last-Minute Tax Filers Take Down IRS Payment Sites

The Internal Revenue Service's "direct pay" and "payment plan" options are both down, according to the agency's website.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Paying your taxes is never pleasant, but it just got worse for some with an overloaded IRS website unable to handle the influx of procrastinators.

The Internal Revenue Service's "direct pay" and "payment plan" options are both down, according to the agency's website.

In an email, the IRS said: "Currently, certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties, [but] taxpayers should continue filing their tax returns as they normally would."

April 15 is officially Tax Day, but it fell on a Sunday this year, and Washington D.C.'s Emancipation Day holiday was yesterday. Since the deadline can't be a holiday or weekend, today's the final day to file.

IRS Acting Commissioner David J. Kautter was on Capitol Hill this morning, where he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that "a number of IRS systems are unavailable at the moment. We are working to resolve this issue."

The direct pay feature lets you send money to the IRS directly from your bank account, whereas the payment plan option lets those who qualify pay in installments.

Despite the outage, the IRS is telling people to file their tax returns as they normally would. The agency's website still lets you pay with a debit or credit card via third-party providers. However, you do have to pay a $2 fee to use them.

In addition, you can pay your taxes via third-party tax preparation software, like TurboTax.

"The challenge is the transmission between the (payment) processer and the IRS," Kautter said in the hearing. "We have backup systems that we are bringing up online… hopefully we will have the issue resolved quickly."

Kautter also told lawmakers that taxpayers can file a six-month extension if they need more time, which can also be done via a number of third-party providers.

Still, at least one lawmaker was irked by the trouble. "In a real sense, this is game day for the IRS, and the IRS can't get out of the locker room," said US Rep. Greg Gianforte of Montana.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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