If you're Waiting for your IRS Refund, You're not Alone

After the IRS shut down in March because of the pandemic, mail started piling up. Bags of it. Truckloads of it. Millions of pieces of correspondence, including many, many, many tax returns filed on paper. Although many IRS employees have returned to work, the sheer volume of mail is causing unprecedented delays. Two months ago, the IRS was plowing through 5 million tax returns. Since then, the extended tax deadline of July 15 has come and gone, and many more returns have been added to the backlog.
How many returns is 5 million? Assuming an energetic employee could process a return in 5 minutes (an utterly unrealistic assumption) and did not need to stop for such luxuries as food, sleep, or Red Bull, that employee could plow through 5 million returns in a little less than 48 years. Fortunately, the IRS has more than one employee, but you get the idea that it's going to take some time to make it to the bottom of the pile. (It's unclear how many pieces of other correspondence that are not tax returns are waiting to be opened as well, but that's another story.)

 An issue not raised in many of the news storied is that a lot people who filed their returns electronically are also seeing unexpected delays in receiving their refunds. In a normal year (back when "normal" meant something), an e-filed return plus direct deposit was the fastest way to get a tax refund -- generally being processed within 3 weeks and sometimes sooner. This year, despite the fact that e-filed returns get a head start by going directly into the IRS computers, even some people who e-filed are waiting much longer than usual for their money.

One small cheery note if you're still waiting for your refund: this year the IRS will pay interest on all refunds received after April 15 for returns filed by July 15. The interest rate will be 5% through June 30 and 3% beyond that (annual rates), significantly higher than what you would get from most savings accounts right now. 

 Unfortunately there aren't any professional tricks to speed things up if you're waiting for your refund. You can check on your return on the IRS website (or use their smartphone app), but don't bother checking more than once a day and if you filed a paper return, don't be surprised if the website doesn't have any information at all. Eventually the IRS will make it through the mountain and your refund will be released (hopefully before it's time to file your 2020 return).
Location: WAPPINGERS FL, NY 12590, USA

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