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Taxpayers are now able to file two major tax forms covering education credits and depreciation.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began processing tax returns that contain Form 4562, Depreciation and Amorti-zation, on Feb. 10. On Thursday, the IRS plans to start processing Form 8863, Education Credits.

This step clears the way for almost all taxpayers to start filing their tax returns for 2012. These forms affected the largest groups of taxpayers who weren't able to file following the Jan. 30 opening of the 2013 tax season.

The IRS will be able to accept the education credits and depreciation forms following the completion of reprogramming and testing of its systems. Work continues on preparing IRS systems to accept the remaining tax forms affected by the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) enacted by Congress on Jan. 2.

The IRS also announced today it will start accepting the remaining forms affected by the January legislation the first week of March.

A specific date will be announced later. Most of those in this group file more complex tax returns and typically file closer to the deadline or obtain an extension.

For taxpayers using e-file, most software companies are now accepting tax returns with these two forms and will submit them after the IRS begins accepting them next week.

More information is available on IRS.gov.