Everyone loves a tax refund! ‘Free money’ from the taxman that you can use as you like is always a nice thing to see. The IRS refund can take a little time to process but as always the sooner you file your tax return the sooner it will happen.

Checking When Your IRS Refund Is Due

There is no hurrying the IRS – the call center agents can only check the timings of your tax refund no matter how you charm and browbeat them! They will only check a similar system to the IRS Where’s My Refund system. It is free to use and you can check it every hour of the day if you’re really itching to get the cash! It does however only update once per day.

Log in to the Where’s My Refund page and have your Social Security number or ITIN to hand. You will also need your filing status and exact refund amount to find out just what the status of the IRS refund is. With that, just a few clicks will show you what you need.

How Quickly To Expect The Money

Here’s a list of timings within which to expect your IRS refund. If the wait is significantly beyond the date expected, and/or the refund isn’t listed on Where’s My Refund in time, then it may help to give the IRS a call. We’ll start by looking at the simplest tax returns and go into the more complex ones.

21 days or fewer – e-filings

Simple e-file tax returns can result in an IRS rebate in fewer than 21 days after acceptance if you ask the IRS to deposit the money directly into your bank account. This is the easiest way forward.

6-8 weeks – Mailed paper returns

Not everyone can or does file their tax return electronically. When it comes to mailed tax returns, the process is necessarily slower and can take up to eight weeks from the day the IRS received your return to the day the money hits your account.

February 27, 2019 and on – EITC and ACTC applications

Have you claimed Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC)? In 2019 the IRS will issue those refunds from February 27. Checking the status of these refunds on Where’s My Refund, you will not find anything until Feb 17.

Nonresident aliens IRS refunds – 6 months

If you work in the US and do not live here, and don’t qualify to pay income tax on your income generated in the US yet have had those taxes withheld by your US client, an IRS refund can take six months or more. You will need to mail Form 1040NR U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return as well as evidence of the tax withheld and amounts to the IRS.

Offset IRS refund amounts

You may not get every cent that showed when you filed your tax return. This is because a range of agencies and the IRS itself can take money from that IRS refund. The IRS shows exactly which ones: “spousal support, child support, state unemployment compensation debts, state income tax, pay off past-due federal tax, or other federal nontax debts, like student loans.”

Where you owe the IRS money on a tax debt it may help to get in contact with us here at Defense Tax to discuss your issues.

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