Tax Return Delays?

Shop deals on ebay
the rocketry show
Wildman Rocketry
eggtimer rocketry
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
W

wonderboy

Well-Known Member
TRF Supporter
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
313
Reaction score
336
Location
S.E. Michigan
Hi All,

I'm still waiting for my tax refund which I mailed (yes, I'm a dinosaur mailing a paper copy through the US postal service) back in mid-April. Is anyone else experiencing a similar delay? None of the on-line or phone resources work right now. There is a website from the IRS to check the status of your refund and that comes up with nothing, it says to contact the IRS. I try the phone lines to IRS and they also don't have a status for me and it is impossible to get through to a person. There is one convoluted path I found on the internet for which buttons to press, when to not enter info, etc. I get through that and the recording says something to the effect of "We're too busy right now to talk, try again tomorrow".

Given that it's been 2.5 months, I'm wondering if I should start to worry.

Thanks!
 
I always file mine electronically, even with that I just received mine less than a week ago. I submitted at the end of March.
Lots of delays due to the adding of the "stimulus" to many returns so lots of hand processing and covid staffing means delays.
 
Getting my federal tax return this year was a comedy of errors with the USPS losing the first one (I assume at this point), Nothing happening with my second attempt (Which I JUST got back after sending it in mid April, returned because my wife and I forgot to sign it after printing it).

The third time we filed electronically right before the due date and successfully got our refund a few weeks later, but only because I discovered you can actually fill out an online form and file for free on the IRS website. I consider Turbotax and the like to be rip-offs and refuse to use them.

To actually answer your question, yes, you should be concerned. You have no way of knowing for sure if your form was lost in the mail and you'll never get an answer from the IRS because they don't know either. If you try filing again though they might consider you late and assess a penalty.
 
I just went back and checked - looks like I filed electronically on 3/6 and received the return in my account (direct deposit) on the 30th of March. It's usually slower as you get further into the season, but over two months still seems excessive.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all for your replies! I am going to look into the electronic filing through IRS, as I also don't care to use TurboTax.

To a certain extent though, I feel a tiny bit better knowing that even electronically filed returns have taken a long time.
 
Filed electronically last week of FEBRUARY. Nothing new in my returns, same old stuff.

Got state refund two weeks later

From IRS just crickets. Until end of May. Got a letter that they needed to verify my identity. Follow this process on the IRS.gov website. That failed because they didn't have my cell phone in their database to send the verification code. So they sent me a letter with the verification code 10 days later. Finally could set up my verification account, completed verification. Got refund mid June.
 
Marc_G said:
Filed electronically last week of FEBRUARY. Nothing new in my returns, same old stuff.

Got state refund two weeks later

From IRS just crickets. Until end of May. Got a letter that they needed to verify my identity. Follow this process on the IRS.gov website. That failed because they didn't have my cell phone in their database to send the verification code. So they sent me a letter with the verification code 10 days later. Finally could set up my verification account, completed verification. Got refund mid June.
Click to expand...
Same exact thing for me. I ultimately did the identity verification over the phone, which was tedious but eventually worked, and then I got my refund a couple of weeks later.
 
Filed my return through freetaxusa beginning of January, just got my refund 2 days ago.
 
I didn’t get a refund, we owed money. We filed electronically around mid May near the deadline. Not surprisingly, the fed was happy to take my money almost immediately.
 
Last edited:
Our deadline got slid out to Jun15 on account of the plague and the ice. I seem to recall we filed ours in late May and got everything back in a month or so? IDK, I go low-effort low-stress:
  • put important-seeming papers in a sack all year
  • take sack to CPA after we get the last W2
  • try to remember to meet the missus there to sign stuff before the deadline
  • eventually put this years' folder in the firesafe with all the others
 
Filed an extension because our tax filing is dependent on our son's tax filing, and he was missing stuff from the US Army that we're still trying to get (and that may not exist). Hopefully, we will get it cleared up this week.
 
Filed online in May in two states and federal using TurboTax. Three different refunds. Yeah, it costs me to buy the software and pay for filing two states, but it would cost even more if I paid someone to do it for me. Also, I like that it assesses whether it would be better to file “married filing jointly” or “married filing separately“ to see which works best for me. Got all three refunds within a couple weeks.
 
Filed online in March. Still waiting for the refund. Hoping it'll show up in time to pay for the 3D printer I ordered yesterday.
 
There are numerous reasons why it’s taking longer than normal this year for even e-filed returns to be processed. Paper filed returns are going to take forever because the IRS is only partially staffed right now. I’ve spent the last two weeks of my job following up with the IRS on returns I filed in April and May and am getting the same response over and over - they have it, and are just taking time to work through it.
 
Steve Shannon said:
Filed online in May in two states and federal using TurboTax. Three different refunds. Yeah, it costs me to buy the software and pay for filing two states, but it would cost even more if I paid someone to do it for me. Also, I like that it assesses whether it would be better to file “married filing jointly” or “married filing separately“ to see which works best for me. Got all three refunds within a couple weeks.
Click to expand...

I could see it possibly being worth it if you own a business or deal in real estate or something and your taxes are super complicated, but they wanted to charge me $70 plus an additional $60 for deluxe features or whatever. The only "deluxe feature" I needed was a student loan interest deduction, so rip-off in my case. It actually took me longer to fill out turbotax's questionnaire than it took me to fill out the form on my own and come up with the same refund.
 
Filed mine on paper, haven't seen anything from either the feds or state.

Fun fact: E-filing doesn't go straight to the IRS. It goes straight to Intuit (or H&R Block, or whoever you bought from), who records all of your financial information for their marketing purposes and who then forwards it to the IRS. I see it as paying a company $70 for the privilege of letting them sell every bit of my financial data to the highest bidder.
 
Whut Matt said. NPR backs up the number in a report yesterday. You can also prolly thank the new PMG for "sweeping reforms for efficiency" in the USPS. Bezos is laffing his ass off!
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. Given that even some e-filed returns aren't received yet, and that I filed with paper, I'll just have to be patient.

I did learn something though. I found the IRS "Free File" site. I thought that to file electronically, you HAD to purchase a commercial software package like TurboTax. This appears to not be true. If you go to the IRS Free File site you can find two options depending on your income level, both of which are free.

Income under 72k per year, you use one option (which appears to be a free commercial software option: an IRS "Partner" site). The over 72k per year option just provides you with forms that you still have to fill out the old fashioned way, but apparently it lets you submit them electronically. I wasn't aware of this option until I started digging a little bit. Too late for me now this year but I'm definitely gonna try it next year.

Here is the IRS site:
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
 
Matt Danison said:
CNN just said there is a backlog of 15 million U.S. tax refunds due to staffing and printer problems.
Click to expand...

How the heck do "printer problems" fit in with electronic filing and electronic payment?

If business were to take 3 months to process a refund, Congress would be holding hearings demanding that companies stop defrauding consumers. (mutter grumble . . . :mad:
 
wonderboy said:
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. Given that even some e-filed returns aren't received yet, and that I filed with paper, I'll just have to be patient.

I did learn something though. I found the IRS "Free File" site. I thought that to file electronically, you HAD to purchase a commercial software package like TurboTax. This appears to not be true. If you go to the IRS Free File site you can find two options depending on your income level, both of which are free.

Income under 72k per year, you use one option (which appears to be a free commercial software option: an IRS "Partner" site). The over 72k per year option just provides you with forms that you still have to fill out the old fashioned way, but apparently it lets you submit them electronically. I wasn't aware of this option until I started digging a little bit. Too late for me now this year but I'm definitely gonna try it next year.

Here is the IRS site:
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
Click to expand...

This was my exact problem, believing that to file electronically you had to use a commercial software. I also discovered that you can actually fill out an online form and submit electronically for free just this year. The IRS really needs to advertise this better - you're not the only one I've talked to who was also unaware this was an option.
 
Has there been an unmarked van parked in front of your house for the past month?
Is there a pile of cigarette butts next to the van?
Is there a Wifi ID nearby named "IRS Surveillance Van #X"?
 
Igotnothing said:
The IRS has never been late or slow for me. However, what is this "refund" thing of which you all speak?
Click to expand...
Ditto!! Being self-employed, my taxes are all paper and contain about a dozen schedules. They're never shy about cashing my quarterly estimated tax payments within days, but their response time to queries is ridiculous.

2020: No problem, wrote them a check for my balance due.

2019: Finally got an overpayment refund check in MARCH 2021, almost a full year after I filed!!!

2018: ??? No idea its status. They lost the first one and sent a nice letter stating it was overdue (they had 5 figures in pre-payments on my account, asses). Ok, sent another copy to them with a note indicating the date of the first send (and that USPS tracking showed the first filing attempt indeed had arrived!). Got another letter a bit later stating my filing was overdue. Screw 'em. Into the trash with that crap. We're square and if there's a problem I've got quite a lot to discuss with them should they feel the need. Ineptness at its finest, and this was before covid.

2021: What really irks me? Any letter from the IRS is unwelcome and stress-inducing unless there's clearly a check in the envelope window. 2020 was slower than usual (covid) and I was eligible for their "stimulus" payments (that I did not need and think should have been means-tested instead of a free-for-all giveaway, ffs, but that's a different rant). Well, it really nicked me to receive a letter in an IRS envelope, on IRS stationary, from our friggin' president that outlined his wonderful stimulus strategy and was full of self back-patting. On friggin IRS letterhead. I was irate beyond belief. First, what a stankin waste of money and paper to send off that ridiculous and unnecessary self-congratulatory letter. Second, to temporarily wreck my afternoon staring at an IRS envelope wondering wth the IRS wanted from me now?!? Our (my!!!) taxes were used to pay for that nonsense. Tens of millions of letters out. Ridiculous and wasteful. As silly as DJT slowing earlier stimulus checks (wasn't eligible) so he could get his signature affixed to each check. Bunch o clowns all of them. They could've spent that money to send a Wizard to every teenager in the country!

And that is my IRS rant for Friday, July 2, 2021 !

Happy 4th, amigos! Gonna be a lot of rockets heading skyward this weekend--not too many bearing fins. Hopefully some will take out a few of Musk's little shoebox satellites that spoil the night sky's view in my favorite places.
 
Last edited:
We should replace the IRS with a lottery system. Instead of tax forms, everyone automatically contributes 20% of their income including businesses. Every year, people and companies will win millions. No one complains about spending money on a lottery.
 

Similar threads

L
Trouble contacting Rocketmam Parachutes
2 3
Replies
60
Views
3K
rsbhunter
R
LandonC
Madcow Fulfillment Delays?
Replies
6
Views
605
rharshberger
rharshberger
B
Heads up if you rent a car online and buy the insurance, and they don't have a car for you.
Replies
9
Views
967
BABAR
B
DocSeuss
Wanted Estes Pro Series Impulse and Patriot Kits
Replies
1
Views
192
DocSeuss
DocSeuss
frogglicker
L2 Punisher 3 Recovery Questions
Replies
4
Views
624
danielhv
danielhv

Latest posts

Back
Top