When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Worry if Your Tax Refund Is Delayed

Here are some reasons why your tax refund may be delayed this year – and tips for what you can do if yours is late.

After a tumultuous few years of IRS backlogs and last-minute changes to tax laws, tax refunds are generally back on schedule in 2023.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed on Aug. 16, 2022, included nearly $80 billion in IRS funding. The bureau used some of that money to hire thousands of new employees and improve its automated systems, which reduced the backlog significantly.

But some returns can still take a while to process. If you’re still waiting for your tax refund, here’s what you need to know.

How Long Does It Take to Receive Your Refund?
If you file electronically and choose to have your refund directly deposited into your bank account, you’ll usually get it within 21 days if there aren’t any issues with your return. If you e-file but request a paper check, it usually takes about a month to receive your refund.

That time frame can expand significantly if you file a paper return or if the information in your return doesn’t pass through IRS electronic filters – if, for example, the income you reported doesn’t match up with the W-2s or 1099s the IRS received for you or there are mistakes on your return.

“Anything that requires the IRS to manually look at that return is going to create a delay,” Melanie Lauridsen, director of tax practice & ethics for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, says. For example, if you’re claiming an earned income tax credit, your refund will most likely be delayed because the IRS must verify it before issuing the refund.

How to Check the Status of Your Refund
You can use the IRS Where’s My Refund? tool to check the status of your refund within 24 hours of e-filing. If you filed a paper return, you may not be able to check on the status until four weeks (or more) after filing.

To check your refund’s status, you need to input your Social Security number, filing status and exact dollar amount of the refund from your tax return. The tool will let you know if your return has been received, approved or sent. The IRS updates the information daily.

Why Is Your Refund Delayed?
Your refund may be delayed for several reasons. In some cases, you’ll just get the money later than expected. In others, the IRS may send you a letter asking for additional information before it can finish processing your return and send your refund.

Remember: The IRS will never call you if it has issues with your return – that’s usually a scam – but will send you a letter instead.

If you do receive a letter from the IRS about your return, take action right away.

“Once you’ve confirmed that it’s legit, you should definitely respond in the manner requested in the letter,” Kathy Pickering, chief tax officer for H&R Block, says. “If you don’t respond, the IRS is most likely not going to release your refund or complete the processing of your tax return as expected.”

Below are some common reasons tax refunds are late.

Errors on Your Return
Your refund may be delayed if you made math errors or if you forgot to sign your return or include your Social Security number. It may also be late if your dependents’ information doesn’t match IRS records or if you left out a corresponding schedule or form to support a deduction or credit, Pickering says.

The IRS may correct a small math error and send you a notice of the change. For larger issues, you may need to respond to an IRS request for more information.

Also, make sure you answer “yes” or “no” to the question on Page 1 of Form 1040 regarding digital assets. Barbara Weltman, author of “J.K. Lasser’s 1001 Deductions & Tax Breaks 2023 says that “leaving the space blank will delay processing.”

Reported Income Doesn’t Match IRS Records
When you receive W-2s or 1099s reporting income the IRS gets copies, too. If the numbers you report and the information the IRS receives don’t match up, your refund may be delayed while the IRS figures out how to reconcile the discrepancy.

“If data on your tax return doesn’t match data in the IRS systems, it goes to the error resolution path,” Mark Steber, chief tax information office for Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, says. Make sure you don’t leave out any income when you file your return, especially if you have several side gigs.

Direct Deposit Accounts Don’t Match Up
Your refund may be delayed if you chose direct deposit but the bank account owner information doesn’t match up with the filing status on the return – for example, you might have had the refund deposited into an account for one spouse if you filed jointly, Weltman says. In that case, the refund may be delayed and the IRS may send a paper check.

The IRS Suspects Fraud
“The IRS identity theft filters sometimes delay returns and tax refunds until taxpayers verify their identities,” Pickering says.

“You’ll likely need to provide the IRS Taxpayer Protection Program with information from last year’s return, plus your current year return and your current year Forms W-2 and 1099,” she adds.

Double Dipping on Dependents
Since it’s easy to use tax-filing software, some young adults filed their own tax returns and didn’t coordinate with their parents’ return, Susan Carlisle, a Los Angeles certified public account, says.

“Many kids realized they could do their own taxes online themselves, so they took their own exemption,” she says. If their parents claimed them as dependents, you can’t do both. “So, refunds are stopped until it’s figured out and someone has to file an amended return.”

You Need to File an Old Return
“When the IRS pursues back tax returns, it can freeze any refunds you may be due until you file the old return,” Pickering says.

“The only way to fix this issue and get your refund is to file the past-due return. If you owe taxes on the old return, the IRS will take that amount out of your current year refund,” she says

You Mailed Your Return
It always takes longer for the IRS to process paper returns – especially now. “If you file a paper return, you can expect a few weeks’ delay, Lauridsen says.

It can take even longer if there are errors or inconsistencies on the paper return.

“When taxpayers e-file their returns, the e-file process catches many return errors and rejects the returns at the time of filing,” Pickering says. “If you mail your return instead of e-filing it, the IRS is more likely to identify an error after the fact.”