The popular “Where’s My Refund” feature on the IRS website allows you to see the status of your refund after filing your income tax return.

What you should know:

1. Refunds of e-filed returns usually take 10 to 21 days to process. Paper returns take longer than e-filed returns. The IRS states that 90 percent of refunds are processed within this 21-day time period.
2. Original refund processing projections can change. This can be due to processing backlogs, or errors in your tax return.
3. Sometimes a delay is a good thing. The IRS acknowledges there is a huge increase in identity fraud as thieves try to steal tax withholdings. The IRS is using their data match programs to catch as much of this illegal activity as possible. Because of this, if the IRS is suspicious there is fraudulent activity, they will hold up processing your refund.
4. No shutdown delay. The recent government shutdown did delay many IRS activities, but refunds are expected to be issued within the normal timeframe.

Checking your refund status:

In the meantime, if you wish to check on the status of your refund this is what you should know.

Go to: www.irs.gov/refunds and click on “Check My Refund Status”

When to check:

• 24 hours after an e-filed tax return confirmation
• 4 weeks after a mailed tax return is sent

What you need to provide:

• Social Security number
• Filing status
• Exact refund amount

Remember, the information provided to you by the IRS is not a guarantee of payment. So please fight the urge to spend your refund before you receive it. Unfortunately, no amount of calling or checking will change the speed of returning your money. With 150 million tax returns processed each year, sometimes all you can do is wait.

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