How to Check your Tax Refund Status
We’re only a few weeks away from the tax deadline. That means a whole lot of procrastinators (myself included) are going to be filing their taxes any day now.
If you are due a refund, the lingering question you probably will have is “where is that refund?!”
Checking on your income tax return’s status is actually pretty simple to do.
The IRS has created a hub called “Where’s my refund?” that directs you to a tool to check on your refund status.
To Check your Refund Status you will Need:
- Your Social Security number
- Your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.)
- The refund amount that you determined
What will the Refund Status Site Tell me?
When you enter the above information correctly, you’ll be able to find out:
- If your return was received
- If your return was processed
- When your refund is estimated to be mailed or deposited into your bank account (if you selected the direct deposit option)
The IRS recommends that you check at least 72 hours after you efile or four weeks if you file a paper tax return.
Watch Out for Refund Status Scams
The IRS never initiates email contact with taxpayers, so beware of emails offering to check your tax return status for you. In fact, I wouldn’t necessarily trust any websites that supposedly link to an IRS refund status site (ironic, since I did just that in this post). You’d be better off just typing irs.gov in your browser and clicking ‘I’m waiting for my refund’, and then ‘where’s my refund?’.
Tax Refund Discussion:
- How long did it take for you to receive your refund?
- How did you file this year? Paper or efile?
- Did you request direct deposit or check?
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I am G.E. Miller, & 
Oh the days of the refund. I paid $7510 this year and am waiting on them to cash my check
I just want it to clear so I can get them out of my life for another 12 months.
you might want to start paying estimated payments throughout this year so you don’t end up with such a large tax bill at the end of the year. You can estimate what you will owe at the end of the year and pay that amount in quarterly installments so you can budget for and pay your tax bill in smaller chunks throughout the year. This will also prevent you from paying a penalty because I’m sure a portion of your $7510 is a penalty for underpayment throughout the year.
The Refund Status Site could be more useful if it just took your email address and just mailed you when those 3 events happened instead of you just checking daily or whenever you can remember.
The Where’s My Refund service will be unavailable beginning 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 23, 2013 until 5:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, due to “several factors,” (hmmm…IRS scandal???) including scheduled maintenance.