Slow tax refund due to pandemic?

[AlaskaHunter]

Our federal tax is pretty simple...standard deduction for married couple filing jointly.
I usually get my refund in a few weeks, but this year I have not seen it yet.

The website is not helpful in terms of information
"Your tax return is still being processed. A refund date will be provided when available."
We filed on March 8. Have folks here received their tax refund our is there a substantial delay this year?

 

[Dave N]

Got ours REAL fast. Filed early.

 

[np307]

We filed later than that and got it back within like 2 weeks.

 

[smw110136]

For 2020 I filed in mid to late March. Similar situation to you. Married, filing jointly, standard deduction, etc. I didn't receive anything back from the IRS until August of 2020.

For 2021 I filed in early April and I had my refund back in four weeks so I thought maybe they had caught back up.

I think the IRS has been overwhelmed with changes in tax code, stimulus payments, PPP loans, child tax credits, so on and so forth. Only thing I can say is keep checking their website because you won't get anything but frustrated by calling them.

 

[Dan O]

Our accountant filed our tax return, and we had the Fed back in less than two weeks. Just a guess if you did it yourself, they take their time with it to look it over. Or they sent it to a country that needs it more than you in their opinion

 

[kwyeewyk]

Filed our own last day and got it back less than 2 weeks.

 

[BackofBeyond]

We e-filed and had a small bill for the feds, but it took a while to get both state checks back.

Did you e-file or paper copy for feds?

 

[westbranch]

Did you claim all/part of the stimulus check as a tax credit? That has a longer reconciliation process to match up with the IRS account records and is one of the bigger delays this year. And there is still the ongoing pandemic backlog going on 2.5 yrs now.

 

[NEWHunter]

Mine was very slow this year. I was getting a similar message from the IRS. Then I got a letter saying they needed to verify my identity. I had to go through ID.me and it seemed very sketchy to me. Once I completed the ID process the refund showed up within a few weeks. I should note that I usually try to owe a couple hundred dollars each year and this year was due a refund of a few thousand- maybe that had something to do with them needing to verify my identity

 

[Trophy Cow]

That's funny, they cashed my check real quick. Guess they're not in a hurry to give it back to the next guy.

 

[TOGIE]

i think we filed in february. got it in a couple weeks.

 

[Wildabeest]

What is this “refund” thing of which you speak?

 

[mtmiller]

i think we filed in february. got it in a couple weeks.

Same

 

[Bambistew]

I got mine back really fast 5-6 days. I filed the first of April, because I had to wait for the IRS to finalize a form for use with e-file. It was maddening. I either had to send snail mail, or hope they got done before the deadline. I was sure it would get held up for months going in that late.

 

[Dave N]

Just checked. Filed online with whatever the new name for Credit Carma is. Filed Feb. 19 and got Federal refund on March 1. State 2 weeks later. Jointly and standard. Nothing fancy, did have 2 weeks unemployment to claim.

 

[Bob-WY]

Did you e-file?
Did you get any covid money?

Paper takes longer and matching up the covid money takes longer.

 

[Redman]

I sent them a check and they cashed it got a letter in the mail saying I owe 1400.00 more. My accountant is currently working on it. I try never to get a refund and always hope to break even or owe just a bit. My accountant said she has never seen so many issues with the IRS like this year. Hopefully they screwed up and I don't owe any additional money!

 

[RobG]

Something is probably wrong. I had the same thing happen last year and after 6 months I finally started really looking into it. You will never get a human at the IRS or website, however, my accountant steered me towards the "Local Taxpayer Advocate." I called them and in a couple hours they were able to track down the issue (a missing form) and help me get it fixed.

Local Taxpayer Advocate | Internal Revenue Service

We have offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

www.irs.gov

 

[brymoore]

I paid my biggest tax bill this year. No refund for me.

 

[Chad Gus]

Refunds, you guys get refunds.