Many myths about taxes are addressed by this fact-finder news blip from the IRS. Read about the facts and fiction concerning the refund status.
Myth #1
The ‘Where’s My Refund?’ tool is wrong because there’s no deposit date yet:
Explanation:
When Where’s My Refund? shows the tax return status is received, the IRS or the State is confirming they have it. This means the tax return is being processed, it does not mean it has been sent to your bank or to the taxpayer directly.
The message for the IRS refund tool tells you when a deposit is scheduled as well, so you may want to check often as the status will change as it is completed. On rare instances, a message “status is unavailable” will appear and can mean the website is down or the IRS has not received your information yet. Check with your tax specialist or within the tax software to ensure it has been sent properly just in case.
Also, some returns may take longer to process than others and The IRS may require further review. Taxpayers may experience delays during a review of your federal return details.
Things that may delay processing of a tax return include these details:
-Any errors
– incomplete information
-Affected by identity theft or fraud.
-Includes a Form 8857 or tax offsets from debt. Note that an Injured Spouse returns require income allocations (report of separation of the tax withholding amounts), which could take up to 14 weeks to process.
Explanation:
Taxpayers will be contacted by mail if the IRS needs more information to process a tax return. Your will need to responds within the due date. People waiting for a refund in the mail should plan for the additional time a check takes to arrive, up to 8 weeks.
Myth # 2
Something is wrong when the refund amount is less than expected.
Explanation:
There are a lot of reasons that cause a tax refund to be different than expected. Situations that could decrease a refund include:
-Taxpayer math errors or mistakes.
-Owing federal or state taxes, child support, student loans, or other owed non-tax obligations.
As well, a portion of the refund may be withheld while IRS reviews an item or dependent claimed on the return. For more information and details
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-deadline-approaches-irs-dispels-five-myths-about-tax-refunds