The IRS Website is down; How can I efile my taxes?

So, you’re getting ready to file your taxes, you have all your forms and you log onto the IRS website to get started. But, you get the dreaded “Problem loading page” error in your browser. There have been numerous reports recently of the IRS website, irs.gov, being down. During this busy tax season, a broken and inaccessible irs.gov website is the last thing we (and they!) need.

First of all, be sure you’re accessing the site at the correct URL, which is http://www.irs.gov/  — Note that the WWW is important. Apparently the IRS likes those Ws. (W-2, W-4, WWW, ha.)

If you still just can’t get on to the IRS website, don’t  worry — most of the tax filing forms and tax law information you would find on the IRS website is available elsewhere from trusted sources. In fact, one can easily file taxes without ever having to visit the IRS.gov website. You can get your all your tax forms, for both your federal and state efiling, from trusted sites such as TurboTax and H&R Block.
Of course, this all begs the question — why is the IRS site down? And, is the IRS not prepared for this years’ estimated record-setting number of tax filers?