Any one know how long it takes to get your tax refund back when you had to file an injured spouse form?

Question

Any one know how long it takes to get your tax refund back when you had to file an injured spouse form?
It is all my income. None of my husbands. We efiled but I had to use snail mail to send in the form.
Only serious answers please. Thank U

Answer 1

Oh it takes forever. I was in your exact shoes one time due to an old tax lien of my husband's that resurfaced. I was told to file by mail with form attached, so that's what we did. We filed by mail with injured spouse form on top (RR requested) in February and didn't get a written response till June - which was a denial. Then I filed an appeal which took another three months. Finally got my refund - plus interest! - in September. It was worth filling out all the forms and calling them every few weeks to check on the progress. But with the IRS everything takes forever, anyone telling you it takes 6-8 weeks is being extreeeemely optimistic.

I assume you are in a state which allows injured spouse claims, not all of them do. Expect a long wait and lots of paperwork - and start writing your appeal letter now just in case. You'll have better luck if you have separate bank accounts, own no property, cars or anything else jointly, have no joint credit cards, etc.

I did find the people at the IRS very, very helpful when I called, every single one of them was just great. I thought it would be scary to call them but it wasn't like that at all.

Answer 2

Normal processing on a mailed in return is 6 to 8 weeks, when an Injured Spouse Claim is filed they can not start processing it until the return is processed. Once the Injured Spouse Claim area gets it, it can take an additional 6 to 8 weeks to process.
Sometimes the whole process can take less than the normal time frame it there are no major issues with the return or the Injured Sp Claim. You need to allow at leaset 6 weeks before you call to inquire about the status of the refund
1-800-829-1040

Answer 3

I filed with TurboTax Online on 1/29/11 with Injured Spouse Form included...even before knowing whether there was going to be a tax offset for the support. It was accepted and TT gave me an estimated direct deposit refund date of 2/11/11. On 2/8/11, IRS's Where's My Refund went from showing a refund date to a "There's a delay in processing your return" code 1201. Today, 4/8/11, Where's My Refund website still shows the 1201 Error message, but the money was deposited into our account today. So, 11-14 weeks is the norm, but I got mine in 1 day shy of 10 weeks. They only direct deposit on Fridays though so don't bother checking any other time during the week. I don't know about time lapse for paper mailing refunds though.

Answer 4

It can take several weeks if you do it right.

Unfortunately you made a severe error in e-filing! When filing the Injured Spouse Allocation form you should ONLY file a paper return and you should attach the Injured Spouse Allocation form to the return.

E-filed returns are processed very quickly. If FMS has a hold on his refund, it will be grabbed pretty much automatically when you e-file. Although it's possible to get those transactions reversed it can take months to do so -- and they're not always successful.

When you file a paper return with the Injured Spouse Allocation on the top, it's processed by a human. The first thing that they do is determine how any refund will be allocated. Then they process the return with the allocation applied so the system spits out a check for you and sends his share to FMS. This typically adds 2 - 3 weeks to the processing of your return.

Please keep this in mind for any future tax years until his debt is cleared. File ONLY paper returns and attach an Injured Spouse Allocation to EVERY one.