I thought I'd share my experience this year with anyone wondering how long it will take them to get their refund (the rest of it) if they owe back taxes, etc. Will it take you longer to get your refund? I don't think so! Check this out......
In my case, I owed back taxes but still expected to get around $3000 after that was deducted from my refund. Here's the timeline of how it went for me:
- Accepted March 14 ("Return Received" status on Where's My Refund? App)
- It said I should receive my refund by April 2
- March 16 the status changed. On the "Where's My Refund?" app, all the status bars disappeared and a generic message said my return was still being processed.
- March 22 the status on the "Where's My Refund" PHONE app changed to REFUND APPROVED. There was an additional message stating "Your refund has been reduced to pay a past to IRS tax obligation." However, there was no amount listed under refund amount - it was blank!!!! Was worried thinking they kept my entire refund!
- In desperation, I tried the "Where's My Refund" WEB app from my laptop. Amazingly, it showed a ton of detail that wasn't on the phone app! It shows REFUND APPROVED status and says:
Your refund has been reduced to pay a past due IRS tax obligationThe balance of your refund, $3,078.33, is scheduled to be sent to your bank by March 26, 2014. If your refund is not credited to your account by March 31, 2014, check with your bank to find out if it has been received.
So I filed March 13 and should get refund March 26, even with them taking it offline for awhile to process the offset!!! I was really worried it would take forever, at least longer than the standard time, but it was really fast!
Was this helpful to you? I posted because I simply couldn't find out much information in the community here on situations like this.
