Article

2021-05-02 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Why is my tax refund taking so long? The IRS may not tell you, but this report offers clues

[FAST Co.] More than a month after the official opening date of the 2021 tax season, many Americans who filed early are still waiting for refunds to hit their bank accounts. The Internal Revenue Service, which encouraged taxpayers to file early for a speedier return, maintains that most refunds will be issued within 21 days for taxpayers with direct deposit who file online, but that hasn’t been the experience for many early filers.

Fast Company wrote about the issue earlier this month, and we continue to receive letters daily from taxpayers who say they’ve been waiting longer than 21 days. One common complaint is the lack of information from the IRS about what may be causing the delay. The agency says some tax returns take longer to process, including those that contain errors, are flagged for identity theft, or just require "further review in general."

But taxpayers who are able to reach the IRS by phone say the agency won’t provide specifics, and that lack of communication is a source of huge frustration in a year when money is tighter and people are relying on their refunds even more than usual.

In fact, a recent report to Congress from the Taxpayer Advocate Service—an independent office within the IRS—underscored this very problem. It notes that 5.2 million refunds were flagged by fraud filters in 2020, meaning the filers’ income or identity had to be verified. While most of those flagged were found not to be fraudulent at all, the report notes that the extra step caused delays for a significant number of flagged accounts: 25% of refunds flagged for income verification took more than 56 days to arrive, and 18% of those flagged for identity verification took more than 120 days. That’s almost four months!

Even more frustrating, the report found, is that the IRS’s Where’s My Refund tool—which is supposed to provide a degree of sanity to taxpayers anticipating a refund—is little help to many who get flagged. It doesn’t offer information about the cause of a delay, what information might be needed to rectify it, or how long they can expect to wait. This black hole of communication is often what sends taxpayers to the phones or to social media to complain.

"Although the IRS has tried to expedite refunds, it needs technology upgrades and procedural improvements to do more," the report’s authors write. "Upgrades would also improve communications with taxpayers, which would help the IRS provide better service and manage taxpayer expectations."

Posted by Besoeker 2021-05-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ] Top

#1 IRS’s Where’s My Refund tool

This early electronic filer (Feb 16) has yet to get a refund. Details from the above site report that "after a manual review" the canned TurboTax calculations "were in error".

Posted by Skidmark 2021-05-02 05:56|| 2021-05-02 05:56|| Front Page Top

#2 You'll probably have to call them and verify information on your return to get them to unlock the return and issue the refund.

Posted by Raj 2021-05-02 07:08|| 2021-05-02 07:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Georgia sent my $128. refund within 10 days. My CPA is ruthlessly meticulous. In nearly 20 years she has never made a 'mistake' or forced me to endure an audit. The feds can stick their refund and crapulous money up their arsses. I want nothing from these SOB's other than to be left alone.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-05-02 07:32|| 2021-05-02 07:32|| Front Page Top

#4 Better to owe taxes at the year end and send them a check. On time of course.

Posted by Xyz 2021-05-02 07:57|| 2021-05-02 07:57|| Front Page Top

#5 ^ Exactly what I did. They withdrew the money right on the date I specified..funny how that works

Posted by Warthog 2021-05-02 08:59|| 2021-05-02 08:59|| Front Page Top

#6 because google translate has issues with the different regions in CHINA where your refunds are processed questions?

Posted by Sluse Grealet9429 2021-05-02 11:24|| 2021-05-02 11:24|| Front Page Top

#7 My first stimulus check took several months to arrive. I gave up looking on that IRS site and then it one day came in the mail.

But, several months prior, two relatives with same last name and, like me, had not filed their taxes (due to the extension) got theirs on the same day. Maybe no rhyme or reason.

Lois Lerner can rot in hell or some other miserable place.

Posted by Clem 2021-05-02 11:48|| 2021-05-02 11:48|| Front Page Top

#8 I think the IRS is great. Would love to work for them someday. Highly efficient and non-partisan organization. Keep up the good work.

Posted by Airandee 2021-05-02 15:58|| 2021-05-02 15:58|| Front Page Top

#9 lol

Posted by Chris 2021-05-02 23:24|| 2021-05-02 23:24|| Front Page Top

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