Many taxpayers now know that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) generally sends tax refunds in twenty one days to file if they have error-free returns and are filing electronically.
However, some returns will require manual examinationwhich will put them well beyond the three-week deadline.
And for this particular tax season, as personal finance expert Susan Tompor pointed out at Detroit Free Pressthe IRS has warned Americans not to count on “receiving a refund by a certain date, especially for large purchases or bill payments.”
Enter data correctly
One of the main causes of the delays seems to come from the stimulus checks and credits and how they are reported on statements. Even a minor typo can lead to painfully long delays.
“The IRS is finding errors in claiming the recovery rebate credit once again this year – and the child tax credit – and continues to warn taxpayers of potential delays. It could take several weeks to resolve some of these issues,” writes Tompor.
“It is possible that someone forgets that they received money last year, for example, and then tries to claim the recovery refund credit on the 2021 return,” she continues.
If that happens, Mark Steber, tax director for the Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, told Tompor that the taxpayer who owes a refund shouldn’t take immediate action.
“No new tax returns, no amended tax returns, no paper tax returns. The IRS handles them,” Steber said, adding that taxpayers should expect to wait six to 12 weeks for the agency resolves this type of error.
Steber said if the taxpayer is still in line for a refund after correcting the error, the IRS will simply adjust the money owed and send the new refund amount. However, if the taxpayer owes money after the correction, they could be liable for penalties and interest. In such cases, it may be best to amend the declaration and make the necessary payment before the April 18 deadline.
52 million refunds sent
Despite the well-documented staffing and budget issues at the IRS, the agency has sent out refunds at a very good pace this year. Until March 18, approximately 52 million people have already got their hands on refunds. And with the average refund a staggering $3,305 so far, taxpayers are undoubtedly benefiting from the 13% increase over last year’s amounts.
Yet the IRS is working hard to clear its massive backlog millions of unprocessed tax returns and correspondence from previous years. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig recently told the House Ways and Means Committee that he expects the agency to make great strides by the end of this year.
“Barring unforeseen circumstances, if the world remains as it is today, we will be what we call ‘healthy’ by the end of the 2022 calendar year, and we will enter the 2023 filing season. with normal stocks,” he said.
Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington State-based science and technology editor who has held positions at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow him or contact him on LinkedIn.
Picture: Reuters
