Taxpayers face "unprecedented" delays getting their refunds, IRS watchdog says. The Internal Revenue Service is facing an even bigger backlog for this tax season than it did a year ago, with delays creating "unprecedented financial difficulties" for taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday.
Correspondence Processing Delays
It took an average of 251 days to do so – more than eight months. That is more than triple the processing time of 74 days in fiscal year 2019, the most recent pre-pandemic year.
Many taxpayers who filed paper returns in 2021 got caught in the backlog and reported waiting six months and longer to receive their refunds. The IRS acknowledged Tuesday: "To date, more than twice as many returns await processing compared to a typical year at this point in the calendar year."
COVID-19 Processing Delays
It's taking us longer than normal to process mailed correspondence and more than 21 days to issue refunds for certain mailed and e-filed 2020 tax returns that require review. Thank you for your patience. The IRS issues more than 9 out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days.
If you file a complete and accurate paper tax return, your refund should be issued in about six to eight weeks from the date IRS receives your return. If you file your return electronically, your refund should be issued in less than three weeks, even faster when you choose direct deposit.
While the agency is behind compared with years prior to the pandemic, it is ahead of last year by about 1 million returns. The IRS has been able to keep pace with electronically filed returns -- processing them on average within eight to 21 days -- but it takes longer to process the returns filed on paper.
If you're still waiting on your tax refund, it's possible that your tax return is taking longer for the IRS to process because it requires additional review. There are several reasons why your tax return may be delayed: Errors such as an incomplete filing status. Missing information.
Your refund may be delayed if you made math errors or if you forgot to sign your return or include your Social Security number. It may also be delayed if your dependents' information doesn't match IRS records, or if you left out a corresponding schedule or form to support a deduction or credit, says Pickering.
Online, the IRS wrote, "Tax returns are opened and processed in the order received. As the return is processed, whether it was filed electronically or on paper, it may be delayed because it has a mistake including errors concerning the Recovery Rebate Credit, missing information, or suspected identity theft or fraud.
The following are some of the reasons why tax returns take longer than others to process: Your tax return includes errors, such as incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit. Your tax return Is incomplete. Your tax return needs further review in general.
Things that can delay a refund:
The return has errors, is incomplete or is affected by identity theft or fraud. The return needs a correction to the child tax credit or recovery rebate credit amount.
If you haven't received your tax refund after at least 21 days of filing online or six weeks of mailing your paper return, go to a local IRS office or call the federal agency (check out our list of IRS phone numbers that could get you help faster).
What's Taking So Long? If you don't receive your refund in 21 days, your tax return might need further review. This may happen if your return was incomplete or incorrect. The IRS may send you instructions through the mail if it needs additional information in order to process your return.
The IRS is making progress on its backlog of unprocessed tax returns, but millions remain, the agency said Tuesday. As of June 10, there were 11 million pending individual returns, including filings received before 2022 and new 2021 returns, according to the IRS.
National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in her report that the IRS backlog this year is 21.3 million paper returns, 7 percent more than the 20 million that were awaiting processing at the same time last year.
The IRS continues to work on the few remaining 2021 individual tax returns that have processing issues or require additional information from the taxpayer. As of June 10, the IRS had processed more than 4.5 million of the more than 4.7 million individual paper tax returns received in 2021.
It is also taking the IRS more than 21 days to issue refunds for some tax returns that require review including incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit amounts, or that used 2019 income to figure the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC).
Some of the reasons are: you claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit and/or an Additional Child Tax Credit (if you claim either of these credits, the PATH Act requires processing to be delayed), you filed Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation), you have a refund offset, the IRS found errors, inconsistencies, or missing ...
IRS Refund Schedule for Direct Deposits and Check Refunds
They now issue refunds every business day, Monday through Friday (except holidays). Due to changes in the IRS auditing system, they no longer release a full schedule as they did in previous years.
This means the IRS has your tax return and is processing it. Your personalized refund date will be available as soon as the IRS finishes processing your return and confirms that your refund has been approved. Most refunds are issued in less than 21 days.
If your tax return status is "Still Being Processed" your tax return could be essentially on hold until the IRS corrects any issues and/or gets the additional information from you to continue processing your return.
A refund date will be provided when available." Exactly mean? After the tax return has been Accepted by the IRS (meaning only that they received the return) it will be in the Processing mode until the tax refund has been Approved and then an Issue Date will be available on the IRS website.
First, they look for things like back taxes and unpaid child support. If they find any debts, they'll offset (reduce) your refund to cover the outstanding amount. Once they are satisfied that you have no outstanding debts, they will approve and then issue your refund.