While we at TurboTax have no way of
finding out specific information about the processing of an individual tax
return once it's been transmitted to the government, it's a known fact that paper-filed tax returns normally do take rather longer for the IRS to process than e-filed returns. The e-file refund guideline the IRS tells the public is around 21 days, give or take, or 6 weeks for paper-filed returns, except at the busiest time of year (like February or March).
Personally, as a CPA who has filed literally thousands of tax returns over the years, I find those IRS estimates to be about what I observe in reality, but with a wide variation. Some refunds can be really quick, while some tax returns, for instance, can take much longer to process than others, especially if there is any unusual issue, such a taxpayer name / SSN discrepency, an attachment made to the return, an Injured Spouse claim form has been filed, etc. Thus, it's really difficult to say. But I should estimate that a normal time-frame to process a paper filed tax return, at the busy time of year, and provided that there are no issues or that the return hasn't been selected for a random examination, should be fall somewhere broadly between about 5 and 8 weeks.
In your case, however, requesting the direct deposit refund option, in lieu of a paper check, should speed things up by a few days at least. I'm sorry that I can't promise you a date or a time, but that's not in anyone's power to do except for the IRS. Anyone who claims otherwise is not telling the truth.
That said, it's a good bit of advice to periodically keep checking on the Where's
My Refund webpage, as the message there change all of the time; and sometimes the same message is
displayed continuously, or the bars disappear. If your tax return ever is
chosen for further review, or an actual audit, then the website should indicate
that.
Taxpayers who do have their returns
held for review, and who expect to receive an IRS notice, tell us that this
message appears clearly on the Where's My Refund website. If enough time passes after filing
(21 days after e-file, or 6 weeks after paper file), and there is no new
information, at that time the IRS indicates that you can call them for
additional information, using the phone number provided on their Where's My
Refund website.
For now, the best course of action
is patience. The IRS doesn't always move as fast as taxpayers would like
(especially when waiting for a refund).
Thank you for asking
this question.
