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Well over 21 days for my refund. What is going on?

 
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3 Replies
DanaB27
Expert Alumni

Well over 21 days for my refund. What is going on?

It is currently taking longer for returns to be processed by the IRS. Please see What if my IRS refund is taking longer than 21 days? for information what to do and why it might take longer.

 

Also, you can track your refund at the IRS Where's My Refund? site. 

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Well over 21 days for my refund. What is going on?

I've tried calling several, several, several times and cannot get through to an actual person. There should be away to talk to someone without trying a million times. 

ToddL99
Expert Alumni

Well over 21 days for my refund. What is going on?

Unfortunately, there isn't any easy way to contact the IRS this year. They are overwhelmed with changes to the tax laws that keep on coming.

 

If you filed your 2020 taxes and haven't received your refund, your experience is very common -  the IRS is encountering major delays in processing 2020 tax returns, and is almost impossible to reach by phone.

 

Why is this happening? Tax season (normally Jan 1 - Apr 15) is the busiest time of the year for the IRS. This year, they have also had to deal with major changes in the tax law, including ones that were passed retroactively in the past two weeks. They are also struggling with the same COVID workplace and workforce issues the rest of the country has encountered.

 

According to  the Washington Post (Mar 12, 2021):

 

Nearly 7 million tax filers are in limbo and facing substantial delays in getting refunds so far this tax filing season, as the Internal Revenue Service struggles to keep up with the demands of issuing stimulus checks and implementing myriad tax code changes from coronavirus relief packages, including the one President Biden signed this week.

 

There are 6.7 million returns that have not yet been processed, more than three times the number in the same period last year, when fewer than 2 million returns faced delayed processing, IRS data shows.

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