The Internal Revenue Service is reporting that the majority of issues surrounding delays in tax refunds have been solved.
As you will recall, the IRS sent an email in late January warning that tax refunds could be delayed a week this tax season because of new identity theft filters that were installed to prevent the growing trend of tax refund fraud. Many were reporting much longer delays than a week.
The IRS also reported problems with its online “Where’s My Refund” tool that was giving a different and conflicting date whenever taxpayers checked up on the status of their refund. In February, the system told many taxpayers that it had no information on the status of their tax refund.
After several news sources reported last week that the IRS was as much as 2 million returns behind last year’s processing rate, IRS spokesperson Dean Patterson released the following statement:
“Earlier issues in January and February with IRS systems and the ‘Where’s My Refund’ tool have been resolved. In the first few weeks of the filing season, there were two different issues that came up that resulted in longer refund cycles than taxpayers may have expected. Those issues only affected a subset of taxpayers filing returns. Both issues are resolved. Taxpayers who filed after February 13 have not experienced delays.”
The IRS reports that the vast majority of taxpayers filing electronically and choosing direct deposit have continued receiving refunds in the 10 to 21 day time frame announced at the opening of the 2012 filing season.
“Overall, tax refunds are running ahead of last year,” said the IRS. “Through late February, more than 45.2 million refunds have been issued this year, compared to 45.1 million for the comparable period last year.”
The IRS also reminded taxpayers that the refund time frames provided by “Where’s My Refund” and tax providers are projected time frames and are subject to revision.
“Many different factors can affect the timing of the refund after the IRS receives the return for processing,” said the IRS. “The IRS is providing additional screening for fraud this year before issuing refunds, but the vast majority of taxpayers can still continue to expect to receive their refunds in a timely fashion.”
As we reported earlier, delays due to identity theft upgrades are not a bad thing if it reduces fraud and theft. If a client must wait another 7-14 days for a refund to insure this protection, it’s a minor inconvenience compared to dealing with theft. However, any delay lasting longer than 21 days should warrant an inquiry on your part to the IRS office in your area.
