Where's My Refund?" IRS Tool Enhanced for 2024 Filings
In the peak of tax filing season, the IRS sends out millions of tax refunds each week, and naturally, once you file your return, if you have a refund coming, you want to know its status.
The IRS has an online tool called "Where's My Refund?" to which it has made improvements for this filing season, providing even more information than in the past. This tool is arguably the best way to check the status of an expected refund.
The Where's My Refund? tool provides taxpayers with three key pieces of information: IRS confirmation of receiving a federal tax return, approval of the tax refund and the issuing date of the approved tax refund. Information for returns from tax years 2023, 2022 and 2021 is available.
The improvements to the heavily used tool follow Inflation Reduction Act funding, which is providing for a variety of IRS technological advances and upgrades designed to help taxpayers and transform agency operations, the IRS says.
Where's My Refund? Enhancements
In filing season 2024, taxpayers will benefit from important updates that reduce the need for many taxpayers to call the IRS and include:
- Messages with detailed refund status in plain language.
- Seamless access on mobile devices and with the IRS2Go app.
- Notifications indicating whether the IRS needs additional information.
How to Use Where's My Refund?
To use Where's My Refund? you must enter your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification number, filing status and the exact whole dollar amount of the expected refund from the original tax return for the year you are checking.
Once the IRS acknowledges receipt of a return, refund status information is typically available within:
- 24 hours after receipt of an e-filed tax year 2023 return.
- Three to four days after receipt of an e-filed tax year 2022 or 2021 return.
- Four weeks after mailing a paper return.
The IRS updates the tool once a day, usually overnight, so there's no need to check more often than once per day.
Refund Delivery
Many different factors may affect the timing of refund delivery:
- The tax return has errors, requires additional review or is incomplete.
- The return needs a correction to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit.
- The time between the IRS issuing the refund and the bank posting it to an account may vary since processing times fluctuate.
The IRS will contact you by mail if more information is needed to process a return. Further, note that IRS phone and walk-in representatives can only research the status of a refund if:
- 21 days or more have passed since a return was filed electronically.
- Six weeks or more have passed since a return was mailed.
- Where's My Refund? tells the taxpayer to contact the IRS.
If a refund is not what is expected, it may be due to changes made by the IRS. These changes could include corrections to the Child Tax Credit or EITC amounts or an offset from all or part of the refund amount to pay past-due tax or debts. More information about reduced refunds can be found on IRS.gov.
A Couple of Friendly Filing Season Reminders
If you file electronically and choose direct deposit you will typically get your refund in less than 21 days, much faster than otherwise.
Also, refund information for amended tax returns is not currently available on Where's My Refund? However, you can go to www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return to get the status of an amended return.
