Ask Kim
Track Down Your Tax Refund
I filed my taxes just before the deadline in April. When should I receive my refund?
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
May 21, 2004
I filed my taxes just before the deadline in April. When should I receive my refund?
If your tax return and mailing address are accurate, you should receive your refund within six weeks after the IRS receives your return -- which means that folks who filed by the April 15 deadline should be getting their checks soon.
If you filed electronically, you should have received your refund three weeks after the acknowledgment date.
Refunds from amended returns are usually issued within eight to 12 weeks.
It's easy to check on the status of your refund. Go to the IRS's Refund Status tool and type in your social security number, filing status and the exact dollar amount of the refund you're expecting. You'll immediately find out whether your return was received by the IRS and is in processing, if the refund check has already been mailed, or if a refund has been returned to the IRS because it couldn't be delivered to your address. If you have additional questions, call the IRS's refund hotline at (800) 829-1954.
One of the most common reasons for a delay is if the IRS doesn't have your current address. For more information about updating your address, see IRS Tax Topic 157 "How to Notify the IRS of a Change of Address." Filing errors can also cause a delay. See the IRS's "Checklist of Common Errors" for more information.