Tax Refund Delay?

Question

My refund was supposed to be direct deposited on Jan 26th. It was not. I finally spoke to someone at the IRS and was told that all refunds claiming the EIC, will be delayed an additional 2 weeks. Has anyone else experienced this? How can they do this? It just seems so unfair to those of us who deserve this credit.

Interesting...I'm also using SBBT.....anyone else?

Answer 1

OK. The latest word is that these delays are related to the extender deductions that were approved late by Congress. A number of people have mentioned this on Yahoo!. I confirmed it with the IRS and several tax professionals today. From what I'm hearing, we should all receive our refunds within 8 - 15 days from 2/3. With the IRS refund schedule we should all receive it on 2/16. Here is the IRS bulletin about the delays.

Update - I checked the IRS site and will actually receive my refund on Friday 2/9, a week earlier than the date I was told. You check your status at https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp
when you have a chance. Good luck.

Answer 2

I was also suppose to received my refund on 1/26. I did the same thing, called the bank - no problem here, called the IRS and was told they are "verifying information". I called later in the week for an update - IRS said "it's in processing". I called today and was told they don't know why there's a delay and there are not any "flags" indicating a problem. I asked when I should anticipate my refund and they said they could not provide that information but said "it shouldn't be too much longer". When I check my refund status on their website I either get the code 1121 or I don't get anything and it asks me to verify the information I entered. It goes back and forth. I have never had a problem until this year and I can tell you that when you are counting on that refund to be there and it's not it can put a family into a financial crunch. The waiting game continues... If anyone that has been waiting receives any positive information or their refund please let all of us know. Good luck to all!! As an FYI: I did not claim EIC, higher education or educator deductions. However, I did not claim the $60.00 phone tax. I was told this morning by the IRS that by not claiming the phone tax it may have kicked my return out of the system for review. I did not claim it because I never paid the tax. They are idiots.

Answer 3

This delay has nothing to do with EIC. I know this because I filed on the very first day, in fact it was just after midnight on 1/12/07. I received my DCN and acceptance on 1/14/07. I then did my sisters taxes on 1/26/07 and she claims the EIC. Her refund is pending in her account to be available tomorrow 2/09/07. No delays. Mine on the other hand, has been in the "processing" stage since I sent it in. No one would look into it until it had been MORE than 3 weeks since I filed. I called 2/07 and was told there is not reason for a hold up. It must be a computer glitch of some kind. They refered my return to the electronic department to see if they can "fix" the problem. The rep said my return appears to them just like a return that was received last week. Its hanging in "limbo" and they dont know why. I was told it will take a min of 30 days to get a response and a POSSIBLE fix from the electronic depart. So I have called the Taxpayer Advocacy Program and applied for a hardship. I think everyone who filed that first day or two needs to call them as well. Something DID happen in the computer system that the IRS rep doesnt know about because they really dont care. CALL and lets get it resolved together!

Answer 4

I went thru this last year, I even got the message 1121. I called the IRS repeatedly to no avail. After about one month I decided to call the Advocates Office, the number is offered on the IRS website. The person that helped me told me that the IRS did not have to tell me why they where holding up my income tax refund and could not tell if they would do it again. Anyway the advocate asked for all my information again (1040) I also had to send my birth cert., a letter from my job to say that they did issue me a W2
and some other things. After that it took about 3 weeks to get my refund.

I advise you call the Advocates Office they will be the only people that can help. If I remember Correctly I was supposed to get my income tax the second week of Jan. and I did not get it until March 1.

I had used H&R Block online to do my taxes last year. This year I tried TurboTax (SBBT) so I don't know where I stand currently, but I did not count of the cash coming soon since I had so much trouble last year.

I don;t know what is going on with the IRS but I know it is not a glitch, they must have some kind of quota or something where they can only release so much money in one time period. But that is just my opinion.

Answer 5

Are the delayed EIC refunds happening to 'Married Filing Jointly' status? Are the delayed refunds happening to people that also received the EIC last year?

Thank you, Jane D, for that excellent link. Did you claim any of the "tax-break trio?"

I filed MFJ on 1/26 and the IRS website says it will be deposited "by Feb 13," and it has said that same thing every day. I'm expecting an EIC refund. I heard about the delays and I found this forum through google. I hope everyone gets their refund soon.

Answer 6

There has been quite a bit of fraud the last few years with deliberate false filings to get the EIC, which is basically free money from the US government (read average taxpayer) to low income wage earners.

As a result, the IRS is being diligent in matching EIC credit claims to W-2 records. Since Employers do not have to mail
W-2 records to the taxpayer OR the IRS until January 31, it is unreasonable to expect an EIC return to be processed before February 15th.

If there were less crooks in the world, honest people would not have to pay the price, in either money or time.

Answer 7

YES... and i have just read about 5 other yahoo questions that are the same.... My refund said direct deposited on 1/26 and to check with bank if it wasn't there by 1/31 .. i checked with bank no issues there.. called IRS .. they said.. sorry for inconvience... and should be there any time .. no problem.. well today.. checked refund status again.. and siad to contact irs.. with ref.. 1121.. i did so and was told.. that 70,000 refunds.. had been stopped and held for review this year.. and it would be an additional 2 weeks.. no earlier than 2/16... unless i recieved a letter saying it would be delayed any further... i read that this could be due to new dedections.. :-?? i don't know .. i have never had ANY issue with the IRS previously... good luck.. refunds are direct deposited only on fridays.... i would call the IRS... if i were you...-----addition to this: I filed head of household this year... i got divorced last year... i did claim school credits for the money i spent on tuition.... that was the only one of the 3 in their trio that i claimed

Answer 8

I did my daughter's tax return on Jan 25 and she had her refund direct deposited on Feb 2. I did my return on Feb 1 and it is still saying I should have my refund by Feb 20. I have not received any confirmation of a direct deposit date even though it has been at least a week. Now I am wondering if mine will be held up because of the EIC I claimed, but so far no codes like some of you have received. I checked my bank account and tax info from last year, and I had my refund direct deposited within 6 days of doing my taxes online! This year sounds like it will be at least 2 weeks or more. :( (We used H & R Block online for the past 2 years as well.)

Answer 9

my return was also to be deposited on the 26th. Instead I got a refernce code 1121. I did not claim EIC, and last night an irs rep told me that the refunds had been sent back by the bank. I'm unfortunately using SBBT, so don't know if that is the problem or what.

Answer 10

I also had a date of the 25th with HR Block and was really nervous when I kept calling and was told there was $0 on my card. When I checked the IRS website yesterday it said that my refund was processed and I should have it by Jan 31st. When I checked the website today it said that my refund is scheduled to be direct deposited on Jan 30th. It never said anything about a processing delay like some other posts have said. I've read all the answers on this post and have not seen anyone else that said that they were given a deposit date by the IRS on the website. Wondering if anyone else has gotten that message with an earlier date than Jan 30th. Just trying to figure out if that will be accurate or if I will be pulling my hair out next Tuesday.