The IRS issues most refunds in less than 21 days for taxpayers who file their return electronically and choose direct deposit. However, some returns have errors or need further review and may take longer to process. The IRS works hard to get taxpayer refunds quickly, but taxpayers should not rely on receiving a refund before a certain date. If you filed your return on paper, it may take 6 months or more to process your tax return.
For details on the service delay, see Operation Status. If you haven't received your refund and are getting impatient, calling the IRS probably won't help. On average, taxpayers receive their refunds two weeks after the IRS has accepted their taxes for direct deposits and three weeks after electronically filing a paper check in the mail. They did an audit of my dependent and I as head of household and I faxed the information to the IRS and I still have no news.
If they can be 16 weeks late sending their money to someone, penalties should not be imposed on taxpayers who have the same problems making their payments on time. Usually, this job doesn't require us to correspond with taxpayers, but it does require special handling by an IRS employee, so in these cases, it takes more than 21 days for the IRS to issue any related refund and, in some cases, this work can take 90 to 120 days. However, you may be able to allay some of your fears about delayed refunds by using Where's My Refund or IRS2Go to see exactly where you are in the process. Of these, 2.9 million returns require error correction or other special treatment, and 6.7 million are paper returns awaiting review and processing.
When it comes to tax season, I get a lot of questions from readers, many with a touch of desperation, about why IRS tax refunds take so long to process and what can be done to get their money sooner rather than later. If you get extra money from the IRS, you may be able to pay off a debt, create an emergency fund with a high-interest savings account, or work with a financial advisor to set investment and retirement goals. You'll receive a letter from the IRS explaining this compensation to your federal refund and why it differs from what was estimated on your filed return. As always, check the IRS Where is My Refund (WMR and IRS2GO) applications for the exact dates of payment of your refund.
You can start checking the status of your refund within 24 hours after the IRS receives your electronically filed return or 4 weeks after sending a paper return in the mail. My answer is: be patient, review the above steps, and contact a tax advisor or tax professional if you don't get anywhere with the IRS.
