Been over than 21 days IRS received my return, not gotten my refund, why?

Tax_questionA) There are several reasons why you may not have received your tax refund yet, even though it has been more than 21 days since the IRS received your return. Here are some common reasons why this might happen:

  1. Your return may be under review. If the IRS has identified any errors or discrepancies on your tax return, they may need to review it more thoroughly before issuing your refund. This process can take longer than the standard processing time.
  2. Your refund may be delayed due to errors on your tax return. If there are any errors on your tax return, such as incorrect information or missing documentation, this can delay the processing of your refund.
  3. Your refund may be offset. If you owe any past-due federal taxes, state income taxes, child support, or other federal debts, the IRS may offset all or part of your refund to pay these debts.
  4. Your refund may have been sent to the wrong address. If the address on your tax return is incorrect or outdated, your refund may have been sent to the wrong address.
  5. Your refund may have been lost or stolen. In rare cases, your refund check may have been lost or stolen in the mail.

If it has been more than 21 days since the IRS received your tax return and you have not received your refund, you can check the status of your refund online using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on the IRS website. This tool will give you the most up-to-date information about your refund status and any issues that may be causing a delay. You can also call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 for assistance.

According to the IRS – IRS works hard to issue refunds as quickly as possible, but some tax returns take longer to process than others for many reasons, including when a return:

  • includes errors,
  • is incomplete,
  • needs further review,
  • is impacted by identity theft or fraud,
  • includes Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, which could take up to 14 weeks to process.

If we need more information to process your tax return, we will contact you by mail.

IRS representatives can only research the status of your return if it’s been 21 days or more since you filed electronically, more than six weeks since you mailed your paper return, or if Where’s My Refund? directs you to contact us. Our general telephone number is 1-800-829-1040. However, given our limited resources, our phone lines are going to be extremely busy this year – and there will frequently be extensive wait times.

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