Now that the tax deadline has passed, you may be eagerly awaiting your refund. Many people receive their refunds within three weeks of filing, but some returns can take much longer to process. If you’re still waiting for your tax refund, here’s what you need to know.
How Long Does It Take to Receive Your Refund?
If you file electronically and choose to have your refund directly deposited into your bank account, you’ll usually get it within 21 days if there aren’t any issues with your return. If you e-file but request a paper check, it usually takes about a month to receive your refund.
That time frame can expand significantly if you file a paper return or if the information on your return doesn’t pass through IRS electronic filters — if, for example, the income you reported doesn’t match up with the W-2s or 1099s the IRS received for you or there are mistakes on your return.
“Anything that requires the IRS to manually look at that return is going to create a delay,” says Melanie Lauridsen, vice president for tax policy and advocacy for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For example, if you’re claiming an earned income tax credit, your refund may be delayed because the IRS must verify it before issuing the refund.
How to Check the Status of Your Refund
You can use the IRS Where’s My Refund? tool to check the status of your refund within 24 hours of e-filing. If you filed a paper return, you may be unable to check on the status until four weeks after filing.
To check your refund’s status, you need to input your Social Security number, filing status and exact dollar amount of the refund from your tax return. The tool will let you know if your return has been received, approved or sent. The IRS updates the information daily.
Calling the IRS won’t give you any additional information; the person at the IRS answering the call only sees what you can see with the Where’s My Refund tool, says Barbara Weltman, author of J.K. Lasser’s “1001 Deductions & Tax Breaks 2025.”
[READ: How to Choose Your Tax Filing Status.]
Why Is Your Refund Delayed?
Your refund may be delayed for several reasons. In some cases, you’ll just get the money later than expected. In other cases, the IRS may send you a letter asking for additional information before it can finish processing your return and send your refund.
Remember: The IRS will never call you if it has issues with your return — that’s usually a scam. The IRS will send you a letter instead.
If you do receive a letter from the IRS about your return, take action right away.
“Once you’ve confirmed that it’s legit, you should definitely respond in the manner requested in the letter,” says Brittany Benson, lead tax research analyst at the Tax Institute at H&R Block. “If you don’t respond, the IRS is most likely not going to release your refund or complete the processing of your tax return as expected.”
Below are seven reasons tax refunds can be late:
1. There Are Errors on Your Return
Your refund may be delayed if you made math errors or if you forgot to sign your return or include your Social Security number. It may also be late if your dependents’ information doesn’t match IRS records or if you left out a corresponding schedule or form to support a deduction or credit, Benson says.
The IRS may correct a small math error and send you a notice of the change. You may need to respond to an IRS request for more information for larger issues. See the U.S. Taxpayer Advocate Service website for more information about the notices you may receive from the IRS.
Also, ensure you answer “yes” or “no” to the question on Page 1 of Form 1040 regarding digital assets. Weltman says that “leaving the space blank will delay processing.” If you had no transactions for 2024 but merely held digital assets, answer “no,” she says.
Also, if you bought a new or used EV in 2024 from a registered dealer and “sold” the credit to the dealer, you must file IRS Form 8936 and Schedule A, even if you can’t claim any additional credit, Weltman says.
2. Your Reported Income Doesn’t Match IRS Records
When you receive W-2s or 1099s reporting income the IRS gets copies, too. If the numbers you report and the information the IRS receives don’t match up, your refund may be delayed while the IRS figures out how to reconcile the discrepancy.
“If data on your tax return doesn’t match data in the IRS systems, it goes to the error resolution path,” says Mark Steber, chief tax information officer for Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. Make sure you don’t leave out any income when you prepare your return, especially if you have several side gigs.
[READ: 7 Things to Know Before Starting Your Side Hustle]
3. Your Direct Deposit Accounts Don’t Match Up
Your refund may be delayed if you chose direct deposit but the bank account owner information doesn’t match up with the filing status on the return.
For example, you might have asked that the refund be deposited into an account held individually by one spouse, even though you filed jointly, Weltman says. In that case, the refund may be delayed and the IRS may send a paper check.
4. The IRS Suspects Fraud
“The IRS identity theft filters sometimes delay returns and tax refunds until taxpayers verify their identities,” Benson says.
“You’ll likely need to provide the IRS Taxpayer Protection Program with information from last year’s return, plus your current year return and your current year Forms W-2 and 1099,” she adds.
[Read: Tax Refunds: Everything You Need to Know]
5. You Double Dipped on Dependents
Since it’s easy to use tax-filing software, some young adults file their own tax returns and don’t coordinate with their parents’ return, says Susan Carlisle, a Los Angeles-based certified public accountant. “Many kids realized they could do their own taxes online themselves,” she says.
If their parents claimed them as dependents, the the filer must check the box in the standard deduction section on Form 1040 saying “Someone can claim you as a dependent,” Weltman says.
Dependents have a limited standard deduction and are barred from certain tax breaks. If the child and parent don’t coordinate their responses, “refunds are stopped until it’s figured out and someone has to file an amended return,” Carlisle says.
6. You Need to File an Old Return
“When the IRS pursues back tax returns, it can freeze any refunds you may be due until you file the old return,” Benson says.
“The only way to fix this issue and get your refund is to file the past-due return. If you owe taxes on the old return, the IRS will take that amount out of your current-year refund,” she says.
7. You Mailed Your Return
It always takes longer for the IRS to process paper returns than electronic returns. If you file a paper return, you can expect a few weeks’ delay, Lauridsen says.
It can take even longer if the paper return has errors or inconsistencies.
“When taxpayers e-file their returns, the e-file process catches many return errors and rejects the returns at the time of filing,” Benson says. “If you mail your return instead of e-filing it, the IRS is more likely to identify an error after the fact.”
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When to Worry if Your Tax Refund Is Delayed originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 04/23/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
