The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may owe you money from your 2021 refund, including payment of the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit. Even if you didn’t file taxes in 2021 for various reasons, such as thinking you didn’t qualify, forgetting about it, or just not wanting to deal with the stress of filing, the IRS could have funds withheld for you.
If you didn’t receive your 2021 tax filing season tax refund, it’s important to act quickly. You have less than a month left to claim your money back from the IRS. The average unclaimed refund amount is $932, a significant sum that should not be left unclaimed. Also, the IRS won’t keep these funds held for much longer, so it’s critical to take action before the deadline expires.
According to the IRS, more than $1 billion is waiting to be claimed by more than 940,000 taxpayers, money corresponding to the period of 2020, when we were still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the world had completely stopped. But you have to hurry, because you don’t have much more time.
IRS to Hold Your Tax Refund Money, Time’s Running Out
The IRS holds unclaimed tax refunds for three years due to several significant reasons. First of all, this hold period allows the IRS to verify the eligibility and accuracy of refund claims. During these three years, the IRS has the opportunity to review the tax information and resolve any possible discrepancies before issuing the refund.
In addition, the three-year period also gives taxpayers the opportunity to file amendments or correct errors on their tax returns if necessary. This helps to ensure that refunds are paid accurately and fairly, preventing improper payments or fraud.
In the 2021 tax season (corresponding to tax returns about 2020), the deadline for filing your taxes was extended to May 17, 2021, and that means you have until May 17, 2024, if you want to claim the missing money.
The IRS does not have a tool to know whether or not you have a refund that is due to you, since that information is derived from your tax return for the corresponding year. The IRS Where’s My Refund tool is just to track a current tax refund that have already been issued.
Discover the Recovery Rebate Credit: Claim Some Extra Money
In 2020 and 2021, many will remember the three economic stimulus payments sent by the government, known as economic impact payments, commonly known as stimulus checks. While some received the full amount of these payments, others may have missed out on several of these payments.
For those who did not receive all of their economic impact payments, there is the Make-Up Refund Credit, which is still available to those who qualified. If you did not receive the full amount to which you were entitled or did not receive one or more of the payments, you could have indicated this situation on your 2020 and 2021 tax returns. In such case, the government will pay you the amount that is due to you.
Now, if you didn’t receive some or all of your stimulus payments in 2020 and didn’t file your tax return for that year, you have until May 17, 2024 to claim the missing money. If you just missed the 2021 Economic Impact Payment and did not file your corresponding return, you have time until April 15, 2025 to do so and thus recover the missing money.