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You may have now received your third economic stimulus check, but you may still be waiting for the other change that the IRS owes you: your tax refund.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a backlog of 29 million returns that require manual processing, which basically means that people need to review them.
To be clear, according to data from the US Internal Revenue Service, most electronic taxpayers’ tax returns will be processed and refunded within 21 days. However, if you are still waiting and want to know “Where is my tax refund?”, this is what is happening and how to track it.
Why didn’t I receive the tax refund
For IRS staff and accountants, the 2020 tax season is particularly complicated.
As of March, the backlog of returns from the IRS since 2019 is still more than 2 million. Most of these are the remaining returns submitted by mail that were closed last year due to the temporary closure of most of the IRS due to COVID-19.
But most importantly, these three stimulus bills have created a lot of complexity, the latest of which was passed in the middle of the tax season.In addition to the usual tax season chaos, the IRS’s mission is to provide Third stimulus check. In addition, the tax season is 16 days later than usual this year.These challenges prompted the IRS Extend the tax period Until May 17.
For example, people who usually meet the following conditions Income tax creditThe credits for low- and middle-income working families may not be eligible in 2020 due to the following reasons: Expand unemployment benefits. The US$900 billion stimulus plan passed in December changed the rules, allowing households to use 2019 income instead of 2020 income.
However, the IRS does not have time to update its plan to reflect this change, so if you want to seek income tax credits based on 2019 income, IRS employees will need to manually review them.
The same applies if you qualify for the stimulus funds in the first two checks based on your 2020 earnings, but you are not eligible based on your 2019 or 2018 earnings. For example, if your 2019 income is higher than 2020 income, you may be eligible for more stimulus funds.Or if you Gave birth to a child in 2020, You will earn incentive points on their behalf. These conditions also need to be checked manually.
However, due to all the reasons in a normal year, your tax refund may also be delayed. For example, if your refund has been sent to your closed bank account, the IRS will eventually cut the paper check for you, but this will increase the waiting time. If someone fraudulently submits a tax return in your name to steal a refund, the IRS will consider you to have submitted it and reject it. If you make a mistake or return an incomplete product, the refund will also be delayed.
If you owe certain types of debts, such as Child support or pay an overdue tax, The IRS can collect your refund and use it to offset your debts.
Paper returns need to be processed manually, so even if you don’t have paper returns, if you submit them in paper, you will have to wait a long time. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urges taxpayers who have not yet filed their tax returns to submit them online instead of by mail.
If you make a mistake and need to modify your tax return, your tax season will be even longer. The IRS will notify you of the error via email, and you must send the 1040X form. There is only one way: by mail. Then, your revised earnings will be added to more than 29 million unprocessed earnings.
What if you are still waiting
The first step is to ensure that the IRS has indeed received your return.
you can use it Where is my refund Features on the IRS website or IRS2Go application. You need to provide your social security number, application status and exact refund amount.
But the usefulness of these tools is limited. If your return has been processed, they will tell you when to arrange a refund of the deposit, but they did not provide information on why the return is still being processed or whether you need to provide additional information, which has caused recent criticism. Taxpayer Advocacy Service.
If you submit it electronically, you should be able to see if the IRS has accepted your return within 24 hours. If the IRS accepts your return, it only means that it has confirmed receipt of the return. The IRS still has to deal with it.
If you send a paper return, it may take a long time to confirm that the IRS even has your return. Even under normal circumstances, tracking paper returns can take about four weeks.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) states that only if you submit a refund electronically three weeks ago or send a refund via email at least six weeks ago, or if “Where is my refund” tells you to get in touch, the U.S. The staff of the Internal Revenue Service will help you research the status of the refund.
Considering that the IRS has so far only answered about 7% of individual taxpayers’ calls, it is difficult to talk to people. Even if you are one of the lucky ones in contact with humans, they may not be able to provide you with much information. The IRS system does not tell the staff handling the call why they need to manually process the return. However, if you want to try, the phone number to check the refund status is 800-829-1954.
What to do if it has not been submitted
If you haven’t submitted it yet, the biggest gain is that e-filing is your ideal choice.There are many easy to use Tax software options, Many of them have free versions.
Not only can you get a refund faster, but because the software is doing the math for you, you are less likely to make a mistake, which may cause further delays. In addition, submitting documents electronically is safer than putting all personal information in an envelope.
Of course, the sooner you archive, the better. As the “tax day” approaches, it usually takes longer to get a refund, so please select the tax software of your choice to stop the delay and postpone a certain date.
Robin Hartill is a registered financial planner and senior writer for The Penny Hoarder. She wrote the “Dear Bamboo Finance” personal financial advice column.Send your tough money questions to [email protected]
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