Refund? Not so fast! [Tax refund]

[Swimmer]

Just went to irs.gov to try to check status of my refund. They have a tweet posted indicating things take time and refunds should start arriving by February 27.

Hmmm.

[mortfree]

they cashed my check earlier this week.... I guess they aren't slow on that end

[pennstater2005]

Got mine yesterday. And I have the child tax credit and EIC as well which they stated could slow things but it didn’t.

[Tamarind]

Mine came on the 6th, but I e-filed two days into the filing period because everything is simple this year.

[Pigeye Brewster]

E-filed on Feb. 12 and refund direct deposited on Feb. 21.

[Texanbybirth]

Filed on Jan 31, got the refund Feb 8.

they cashed my check earlier this week.... I guess they aren't slow on that end

LOL

[libralibra]

post removed

[Crimsontide]

E-filed on Feb. 12 and refund direct deposited on Feb. 21.

Same here, filed on 2/12 received refund on 2/21, sent refund to Capital One on 2/22

[bob60014]

10 days, from file to deposit.

[emoore]

Mine was 3 days from file to deposit. Fastest I've ever seen it for me.

[Swimmer]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

[pennstater2005]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

When did you file?

[Swimmer]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

When did you file?

Regular mail February 6.

[pennstater2005]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

When did you file?

Regular mail February 6.

Direct deposit for refund?

[Swimmer]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

When did you file?

Regular mail February 6.

Direct deposit for refund?

Yes

[Swimmer]

Uh-oh. Now I’m worried

When did you file?

Regular mail February 6.

Direct deposit for refund?

Yes

The refund is negligible. But I would like to be sure they got the return. The site won’t give me that info yet.

[pennstater2005]

When did you file?

Regular mail February 6.

Direct deposit for refund?

Yes

The refund is negligible. But I would like to be sure they got the return. The site won’t give me that info yet.

Filing and sending through snail mail could possibly slow your overall process. I filed with taxfreeusa.com and get an email when the IRS accepts my return. Can you call? I bet you're fine.

[Cheesecakelady]

Regular mail is always 3 or 4 weeks slower for me. I suspect it sits on someone's desk for a while before they start processing it.

[Old Guy]

Filed through TurboTax on 2.12. Deposited in bank account on 2.22.

[Paulrbn]

Filed on turbo tax 2/15. Just received CA state tax refund (2/23). Still waiting on Federal.

[mortfree]

Snail mail February 13 or 14 for federal tax forms. Two stamps on that envelope.

They (IRS) cashed my check February 21.

State took my electronic payment on February 22 and that was e-filed on February 15

YMMV

[Texgal17]

The IRS has an app ...IRS2Go.....I efiled on Feb. 18th and I just logged on and it said my return was approved and should be direct deposited by Feb.27.
The app shows when a return is received, approved, and sent. All you need to enter is, your SSN, how you filed, i.e. Single, etc., and the dollar amount of your refund. Easy, peasy.....
Texgal

[jebmke]

Regular mail is always 3 or 4 weeks slower for me. I suspect it sits on someone's desk for a while before they start processing it.

Not likely. Humans rarely touch actual returns at the IRS. It would be opened and scanned. If there are scanning errors or uncertainties it might kick to an error-recycle queue to be looked at and corrected for scanning errors. If it was prepared using a computer and printed off in readable form, nobody will touch it until you are audited.

[dodecahedron]

Regular mail is always 3 or 4 weeks slower for me. I suspect it sits on someone's desk for a while before they start processing it.

Not likely. Humans rarely touch actual returns at the IRS. It would be opened and scanned. If there are scanning errors or uncertainties it might kick to an error-recycle queue to be looked at and corrected for scanning errors. If it was prepared using a computer and printed off in readable form, nobody will touch it until you are audited.

The IRS website shows a very heavily human-touch intensive process for dealing with paper tax returns.

https://www.irsvideos.gov/Professional/ ... ngPipeline

I know that many states have gone to scanning (including the use of 2-D barcodes) that do not require this kind of transcription, but as far I knew, the IRS has not moved to scanning. The fact that W-2s and 1099s showing withholding are supposed to be stapled to the front of a paper 1040 makes automated scanning pretty hard to imagine doing without at least some human hands touching the document.

[Sidney]

know that many states have gone to scanning (including the use of 2-D barcodes) that do not require this kind of transcription, but as far I knew, the IRS has not moved to scanning. The fact that W-2s and 1099s showing withholding are supposed to be stapled to the front of a paper 1040 makes automated scanning pretty hard to imagine doing without at least some human hands touching the document.

No wonder they are in so much trouble. I would never send in paper - too prone to error if humans involved. Another reason to delay filing until as late as possible (October) and reduce any chance of having to file an amendment which must be paper.

I wonder how many of the people actually doing manual work are really IRS employees? If this were a business the docs would either be shipped out of the US for transcription or scanned.

[dodecahedron]

Good question about how many IRS employees. I know that state tax departments sometimes outsource the processing of paper returns to private temp service employees. As far as I know, the IRS does not outsource, they just hire temporary seasonal IRS employees.

I know that Treasury IG and the National Taxpayer Advocate have been pushing for scanning technology to be used with paper returns for quite some time.

However, it appears there is still no funding or authorization to make this happen, because the National Taxpayer Advocate was still pushing for the adoption of scanning technology as recently as last month. (See page 17 of her annual Purple Book report to Congress.)

So--until further notice, it appears that the processing of paper returns involves a lot of human handling and two independent people using keyboards to transcribe the key numbers from your return into IRS computers.

[jebmke]

So--until further notice, it appears that the processing of paper returns involves a lot of human handling and two independent people using keyboards to transcribe the key numbers from your return into IRS computers.

This explains why they selected TaxSlayer; they want to get ahead of us. At this rate we will be back to pencil and paper by 2020.

[cadreamer2015]

I e-filed on February 17. I checked my refund status today, and the IRS website says the refund has been approved and is scheduled to be paid on February 28.

[dodecahedron]

So--until further notice, it appears that the processing of paper returns involves a lot of human handling and two independent people using keyboards to transcribe the key numbers from your return into IRS computers.

This explains why they selected TaxSlayer; they want to get ahead of us. At this rate we will be back to pencil and paper by 2020.

Actually, the IRS did *not* select TaxSlayer. At the most recent bidding process in 2015, the IRS awarded the contract to TaxWise for the next five years. However, TaxSlayer filed a protest with the government saying that their product met all technical specs and was the lower priced option. GAO first upheld the IRS decision, but eventually TaxSlayer prevailed and the IRS was eventually forced to switch to TaxSlayer.

[jebmke]

Actually, the IRS did *not* select TaxSlayer. At the most recent bidding process in 2015, the IRS awarded the contract to TaxWise for the next five years. However, TaxSlayer filed a protest with the government saying that their product met all technical specs and was the lower priced option. GAO first upheld the IRS decision, but eventually TaxSlayer prevailed and the IRS was eventually forced to switch to TaxSlayer.

Holy cow; race to the bottom. However, if TS prevailed, I would love to see the specs. Something doesn't smell right. They must have forgotten to include "calculates tax return correctly" in the specs. Frankly, I am astonished that TS even survives as a company.

[sco]

Actually, the IRS did *not* select TaxSlayer. At the most recent bidding process in 2015, the IRS awarded the contract to TaxWise for the next five years. However, TaxSlayer filed a protest with the government saying that their product met all technical specs and was the lower priced option. GAO first upheld the IRS decision, but eventually TaxSlayer prevailed and the IRS was eventually forced to switch to TaxSlayer.

Holy cow; race to the bottom. However, if TS prevailed, I would love to see the specs. Something doesn't smell right. They must have forgotten to include "calculates tax return correctly" in the specs. Frankly, I am astonished that TS even survives as a company.

You'd be surprised at some of the things that can meet the specs, and then go look at the specs and

Guess Bob in Accounting can't be allowed to write those specs anymore.