There are a few possible reasons why you have not received your tax refund yet, even though you filed your return weeks ago. You might have chosen to get a paper check instead of an electronic refund that goes straight into your bank account.
However, if you still have not gotten your money more than 21 days after filing your tax return, you should use the IRS refund tracker tool to find out what is going on.
Here is what you need to check if you haven’t received your refund
April 15 was the last day for most people to file their tax returns. Unless you live in one of these states or ask for more time to file your taxes. The IRS has been giving out tax refunds for months, but the process of getting the money back takes time.
The IRS’s “Where is My Refund?” tracker tool lets you quickly check on your tax refund and see if your return was turned down because of mistakes. If you want to use the IRS’s tracking tools, remember that you will need to enter your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), your filing status (head of household, married, or single), and the amount of your return in whole dollars.
On the IRS website, go to the “Get Refund Status” page, fill out your information, and then click “Submit.” You might be asked to confirm your personal tax information and try again if you do not see a page that shows the status of your return.
If everything looks good, you will need to enter the date of your tax return and choose whether you filed it electronically or on paper. To check on your tax refund online, you should wait at least 24 hours, or up to 4 weeks if you sent in your return.
Can you track your tax return from previous years?
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that everyone can find record of their tax refunds from previous years. “Where is My Refund?” shows the IRS’s records of federal tax returns from the past two years.
To find tax information from previous years, you need to log in to your IRS online account. You can see your payment history, the total amount you owe, important information about your most recent tax return, mail from the IRS, and your registered address.
Also, IRS2Go is an app for your phone that lets you check on the progress of your tax refund. You can use the app to see if your return was accepted and if a refund has been given.
Remember that to log in, you will need your Social Security number, the status of your tax return, and the amount of money you expect to get back. You should check back the next day if your status has not changed. The IRS makes changes to the app every night.
Why will some recipients see a ‘Tax Topic 152’ or receive an IRS error message?
The Where is My Refund tool usually shows the statuses of Sent, Received, or Approved, but some users may see more than one message. Tax Topic 152 is one of the most common ones.
It means that your refund is probably on the way, but it has not been authorized or sent yet. The letter only tells people to go to an IRS Frequently Asked Questions page that talks about the different types of tax refunds and when they are due.
People who are trying to get the earned income tax credit or the child tax credit may get an automated message telling them the delay. This is because of extra security measures to stop fraud.
The IRS is now checking to see if Tax Topic 151 is on your tax return. The agency will take money out of your tax return to pay the amount it thinks you owe, or it may need to confirm certain credits or dependents. After about four weeks, the IRS will send you a notice with the steps you need to take to fix the situation.
