Where’s My Refund – IRS Updates Status of Refund Estimation Tool

What has been referred to as a glitch in the IRS Where’s My Refund too,l which is designed to help tax filers awaiting their refund get an update on the status of their tax refund, may have been fixed according the IRS in recent reports.

This should come as good news to millions who have filed their taxes in hopes of receiving a timely tax refund, and especially for those who depend on the refund each year to pay bills or reduce debt. The issue with the Where’s My Refund tool on the IRS web site was reportedly due to some enhanced screening software which the IRS has implemented to help reduce tax fraud.

While this has caused some delay in tax refunds, most tax professionals and tax services have reported that the delays have not been much more than a few days to a week beyond the normal wait. Estimates from the experts are that tax refunds are taking about 2-3 weeks from the time of filing versus 1-2 weeks in past years.

The larger concern had come from the fact that many had gone to the IRS web site and received a message, after clicking on the Where’s My Refund tool, which indicated that the IRS did not have any status information on their particular tax return. This caused many to wonder whether their tax return had been received by the IRS.

To alleviate the concerns, the IRS had posted a notice on the web site which indicated that if an individual had received an acknowledgement from the IRS when they filed their return, that the IRS was processing their refund, regardless of what the Where’s My Refund tool said.

For those still awaiting their refund, all information to this point indicates that, if you opted for a direct deposit, your tax refund should be issued within about 3 weeks or sooner.