Can you E-File 2008 taxes now?

[luv2travel]

Our home is on the market and have a contract on it. Apparently the IRS never received the buyers 2008 tax return. He went to the IRS office in town today and was told to electronically file it and he should get it back next week. He is supposed to get a small sum of $ back. The 2008 taxes must be processed in order for the mortgage company to get the 4506 transcripts for underwriting.

Here are my questions:

1- Can you electronically file taxes that are for previous years (in this case 2008)?

2- Is it really this fast to get the taxes processed? I thought it was up to 8 weeks or so. The branch mentioned that they "dump a bunch into the system on Thursday" so it will get processed next week.

Thanks for your help.
Okay, so if we were correct in our assumption that 2008 taxes could not be submitted via efile, how did he do it? If it went through, will it get kicked out?

[acmeraven]

2008 is history as far as the electronic efile setup goes; it ends on the 15th of October of each year; that is when the system has to be started up getting it ready for the upcoming tax season. Never listen to "they" or take what they say for gospel.

[the_tax_lady]

Allow 8-12 weeks.

[tro]

no

[Caveat_Emptor]

Prior year returns must be filed by mail and take 8-12 weeks to process. I seriously doubt that he was told that by "the IRS."

[StephenWeinstein]

1. No. It is already too late to electronically file for 2009 or any earlier year.
2. No. You are right.