I thought the “fiscal cliff” only applied to the tax rates after January 1. But the IRS says that I can’t file my 2012 return until at least January 30 and refunds will come even later? Why is my 2012 refund being delayed?

The majority of taxpayers will be able to file starting on January 30. But taxpayers who must file certain forms or schedules will have to wait until mid-February or early March before the IRS will be able to process these returns. These forms include a lot of the business-oriented tax credits. But several of the tardy forms affect mainly individuals, including energy-efficient home credits and qualified adoption expenses.

There are several reasons why the fiscal cliff delayed the tax filing season. A major reason was that not all of the tax provisions that are affected expired on December 31, 2012. Many of them had already expired at the end of 2011.

As a result, these expired provisions affect 2012 tax liabilities for a lot of people. Many tax experts assumed that Congress would extend these provisions retroactively (as they have done in the past). Still, there was a lot of uncertainty, particularly as the end of the year approached.

The IRS is required by law to collect and program their systems on the basis of the law as it is currently in effect. So it can’t legally begin changing its systems to reflect tax changes until the proposals become law. As a result, the IRS was unable to start reprogramming its computers, revise forms, or make other necessary changes until President Obama signed the new tax law on January 2.

These already-expired breaks included relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would have caused many middle class taxpayers to pay significantly higher taxes in 2012. The new tax law extended the relief that had been given in 2011 and earlier years to 2012. In this latest legislation though, that relief has been made permanent. The amount of the relief is also being indexed in future years to account for inflation.

Other retroactively-extended breaks allow teachers to deduct $250 for classroom expenses, reauthorize deductions for residential energy efficiency improvements, and provide the ability to give away IRA proceeds tax-free to charity. They also allow taxpayers to deduct college tuition and many other provisions, including the popular research tax credit for businesses.

For the last several years, American financial planning has been in a shambles because of the uncertainty of the tax laws. Every year, Congress has waited until the last minute to extend popular tax breaks. In some cases, like this year, they waited until beyond the last minute.

Many economists believe that the economy and financial markets suffer when taxes are uncertain. Not knowing what tax rates are going to be next week or even what the current tax law will end up being is unsettling to anyone trying to prepare a budget.

The new law brings some good news. Some of these tax breaks that have been regularly extended on a year-to-year basis have now been made permanent. In addition, the new tax brackets are permanent.

Of course, even “permanent” tax laws evolve, and are always subject to change. But at least now we have fewer provisions that automatically expire on some future date. This brings more certainty in the short and medium term.

There are many provisions of the new tax law will affect the amount of tax you’ll pay. I will have a lot more to say about the provisions of the American Tax Relief Act of 2012 in future columns.