The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offers taxpayers an online tool called “Where’s My Refund?”, where you can check the status of your refund approximately 48 hours after filing your return electronically. This tool is extremely complete in terms of the information it offers about the reimbursements of the current year and the previous two years.
In fact, the IRS website assures that taxpayers do not need to check the status of their refund more than once a day. “In most cases, the IRS updates the Where’s My Refund section? at night. Calling the IRS will not expedite the delivery of a tax refund; information available at Where is My Refund? it’s the same one the IRS phone attendants have. Taxpayers should be a little patient while their bank or credit union posts the refund to their account or it arrives in the mail.”
The IRS indicates that processing an electronically filed return can take up to 21 days, and at least four weeks for mailed or amended returns.
How to Track Your Tax Refund Efficiently?
There are several factors that may delay the processing of your refund. The most common problems include errors on your tax return, which may require additional revisions, corrections, or supplemental forms.
Alejandra Castro, an IRS spokeswoman, said in a statement that visiting an IRS assistance center will not speed up the refund process. “Visiting a taxpayer assistance center does not speed up the refund,” Castro said. “However, if a taxpayer has doubts about what stage of the process his tax return is at, if it has been a long time and it seems to him that something might be wrong, then he should definitely call the IRS or schedule an appointment to go to one of the taxpayer assistance centers.”
The fastest way to get information and track your refund is through the IRS2GO app or the “Where is my refund?” on the official IRS website.
You can start checking the status of your return after:
- 24 hours of electronically filing a 2023 tax year return.
- 3 or 4 days after electronically filing a return for the 2021 or 2022 tax year.
- Four weeks after sending a statement by mail.
The IRS Helps You Out
“Where is my refund?”provides a personalized refund date once your return has been processed and your refund approved. The tracker shows the progress in three stages:
- Statement received
- Refund approved
- Refund sent
To use the “Where is my refund?” tool, you must provide your Social Security number or personal taxpayer identification number (ITIN), your filing status for filing purposes, and the exact whole dollar amount of your expected refund.