Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS has fallen nearly a year behind in processing paper tax returns. As of March 18, 2022, the paper return backlog stood at nearly 15 million. Most taxpayers receive refunds, so return processing delays generally mean refund delays.
Correspondence Processing Delays
Through May 21, the IRS processed 5million taxpayer responses to proposed adjustments. 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.
Americans who file paper forms tend to have an average wait of about six months, and these returns often provide thousands of dollars in refunds to low-income workers that can be critical for supplementing their incomes.
Some tax returns take longer to process than others for many reasons, including when a return: Includes errors, such as incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit. Is incomplete. Needs further review in general.
Reasons Your Tax Refund Can Be Delayed
Missing information. A need for additional review. Possible identity theft or tax fraud. A claim for an earned income tax credit or an additional child tax credit.
Tracking the status of a tax refund is easy with the Where's My Refund? tool. It's available anytime on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go App. Taxpayers can start checking their refund status within 24 hours after an e-filed return is received.
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.
backlog of unprocessed tax returns has grown to 21 million. The national taxpayer advocate criticized the Biden administration for being slow to make changes at the Internal Revenue Service. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month.
Pandemic challenges
The Covid-19 pandemic created new challenges for the agency and brought on additional work, resulting in backlogs of returns in both 2021 and 2022.
There are many different reasons why your refund may have not been processed yet, but the most common include: Your tax return included errors. Your tax return is incomplete. This could mean that all of the necessary forms were not sent to the IRS for processing.
Call the IRS Refund Hotline at 800-829-1954 and use the automated system or speak with an IRS employee, or. Go to “Where's My Refund?” at IRS.gov or use the IRS2Go mobile app and follow the prompts to begin a refund trace.
Call the IRS at 1-800-Tax-1040 (isn't that cute) to try to find out why the return is still being processed. Be prepared to wait on hold for a long time. Generally it takes the IRS three weeks to direct deposit the refund on your electronically filed personal tax return.
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."
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.
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Call at the best time.
A good rule of thumb: Call as early in the morning as possible. Phones are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (your local time) Monday to Friday, except: Residents of Hawaii and Alaska should follow Pacific time. Puerto Rico hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time.
Generally, if you fully paid the tax and the IRS denies your tax refund claim, or if the IRS takes no action on the claim within six months, then you may file a refund suit. You can file a suit in a United States District Court or the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Typically the IRS processes tax returns and issues refunds within 21 calendar days of receipt. The IRS even stated in January communicating the 21-day time frame.
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 ...
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.
After 60 days, you'd need to file an amended return to reverse any errors and get your refund back. If the IRS thinks you claimed erroneous deductions or credits, the IRS can hold your refund.
Call the IRS toll-free at (800) 829-1040, any weekday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. In the case that the IRS already sent the payment, you will need to contact the financial institution. If the institution can get the funds, it will return the refund to the IRS. The IRS will then issue your refund as a paper check.