Due to a backlog of tax returns held by the IRS, millions of Americans are experiencing weeks-long delays in receiving their tax refunds, far beyond a typical turnaround time of three weeks. The IRS has acknowledged the delay, but why is it taking so long—and when can you expect to see your refund?
Delays can be up to 10 weeks
While the IRS says that it’s been turning around 90% of filers’ tax returns within three weeks, up to 29 million returns have been flagged for manual processing, which, so far, has led to delays of up to ten weeks since the tax filing season began on February 12 (IRS assisters have apparently suggested this timeline, as well when reached by phone).
According to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an understaffed IRS is dealing with an unusually large backlog of 2020 tax returns that require manual processing due to pandemic relief legislation, stimulus checks, and changes to complicated tax credits in the middle of the 2020 tax season. Returns that have been flagged for manual processing include those that:
- Claim the earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit
- Have possible identity theft or fraud issues
- Tax returns that require a correction relating to the Recovery Rebate Credit (in other words, your stimulus payment)
Unfortunately, the delays have come with no advanced warning, which has made it impossible for tax filers to know when exactly they should expect a refund (a recent Lending Tree study reveals that 75% of 2019 tax filers qualified for a refund averaging $3,660).
How to track your tax return’s status
You can check the status of your refunds by using the IRS’ Where’s My Refund? tool on IRS.gov, or by using the IRS2GO app on your smartphone. However, these tools are limited, as they’ll only tell you that the return has been received, approved, or sent. Many filers will be stuck with a “received” status, which provides no additional information on when the refund will be released. Still, for what it’s worth, it’s these tools are the best way to check whether your refund has been sent (it’s only updated once a day, usually overnight, so you don’t need to check it more often than that).
You can try calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040, too, (this Lifehacker post shows you how to navigate their menu and talk to an actual human), but IRS assisters won’t be able to give you an ETA beyond what’s found in their online tools, aside from pointing out that delays might be up to 10 weeks.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service—an arms-length agency within the IRS that advocates on behalf of tax filers—has asked the IRS to provide more specific information regarding refunds beyond the “being processed” status. It’s not clear when or if that will happen though, or when the IRS backlog will begin to clear. In the meantime, you’re unfortunately in a wait-and-see situation.
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