The IRS refund dates in the present year will be later than the previous times. This is because a number of safeguards measures are in place, which were not there before. At this time, identity theft is one of the biggest problems that the Internal Revenue Service needs to face repeatedly. In order to deal with it successfully and continue making the tax process smooth and error-free, state of the art technology is in the offing. Every tax return filed passes through rigorous security measures, for doing away with lingering errors.
Generally, IRS refunds following an e-filing occurs within 2-3 weeks of acceptance date. In the case of checks, this period extends approximately up to 6 weeks. With the recent changes in place, for the 2013 tax filing season, electronic tax filing does not ensure speedy refunds. You need to wait 21 days or more for getting the refunds you deserve. For checks, the refund period is even longer.
What changes the refund date?
The date of tax refunds depends upon a variety of factors and the one posted on the IRS website is only a tentative one and is subject to revision. Therefore, it is wrong to plan any elaborate financial decision based on this date. A number of factors can cause delay, which include bank errors, wrong information input by the taxpayer or lost and stolen checks. It is possible to get a clarification regarding the delay by calling the Helpline number. The IRS provides trace lines, which you can use to know about the status of your refund and what is causing the date changes.
Factors affecting the refund date:
Even after you find the best tax case scenario in your IRS status report, problems can occur with the refund date. The IRS also searches for erroneous or fraudulent returns. Sometimes, simple errors related to math require some connection time and this may also lead to date changes. Bankruptcy, open audit, and related account balance due, are some other factors that also affect the refund date. Whatever the reason you are sure to get the updated message on, ‘Where’s My Refund’ regarding the same.
How to ensure speedy refunds?
To ensure speedy refunds and keep the date accurate, there are certain measures the taxpayers can follow. For example, e filing is always a better idea compared to deliveries by post. If you wish to do away with lingering doubts related to the refund date, opt for e file and direct deposit. This ensures timely and error-free returns. Paper returns on the other hand, are cumbersome and take a much longer time to process. Another thing that is necessary to ensure a faster refund date is an error-free tax filing with all the relevant information given correctly.
The stringent cross-check measures put in place makes it difficult to predict the IRS refund dates at the beginning of this year. There is nothing to do except wait for the refunds to reach your accounts. Just do not let anything ride on it as of yet.
Floyd Dudar CPA
TAX-FORMS.org
