People who filed paper tax returns are more likely to notice a delay in receipt of their refund on account of the backlog at the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) offices as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Typically, IRS takes about 6 weeks to issue refunds for paper returns after receiving them. Many taxpayers have experienced a delay of those returns because of closures at IRS offices caused by the coronavirus. Because of this, a large chunk of returns is still locked up in a mail room somewhere and are yet to be sent for processing.
Tax Refund delayed? – You’re not alone
A CPA with the BiggsKoford Accounting Firm, Greg Papineau, revealed that a lot of their clients have been asking questions about what happened with their returns. He said that entire process has been halted. He added that not enough agents have returned at work who can input those returns.
“Some people were all concerned and worried about this,” said Papineau. “If you get an IRS notice about this, that they’re going to look at your tax return closer, then I would start to worry about it. But until then, I’m sure it’s just [them] taking their sweet time in getting things processed through the system.”
So if the IRS can charge me interest and fees for paying them late, do I get to charge them the same for sending my tax refund late? Asking for myself. 😐
— Fat Hairy 🌹🦺 (@Herp04747677) May 25, 2020
Tax refund and stimulus checks: Are you also facing these issues?
The IRS has accepted the difficulties and expressed they are making their best effort to make things run more smoothly. In addition to a delay in return of refunds, a lot of people who are awaiting their stimulus checks have complained about issues with tracking their payments on the IRS website. They said that a message “Payment status not available” keeps popping up.
COMING UP AT 5PM: We’ve talked a lot about #StimulusChecks, but several people tell me they haven’t even gotten their tax refunds yet! In today’s Money Fix, we’re getting answers from the #IRS. See what they have to say about tax refund delays, today at 5pm on @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/Qj7J7KfSQ7
— Samantha Chatman (@SamChatmanABC7) May 26, 2020
The IRS has pushed the tax filing deadline to July 15. People can request further extension if they find themselves unable to complete their taxes by then.
Also, close to 4 million American citizens are now receiving their stimulus payments in the form of a “prepaid debit card.”