When to expect your refund in 2021

when exaclty did you mail your return? My 10/14 received return still hasn’t been processed and debating when to call them… Online still says not filed :frowning:

Mailed October 15
Received per USPS tracking October 30
Per IRS transcript, return received November 3
Refund issued December 2
Notice that they weren’t going to issue savings bonds issued December 14

That’s pretty quick for the IRS (boo for USPS, mine took a week from PHX to CA too)
I guess I have to call :frowning: Mine was a PY return so I couldnt’ efile (lesson learned efile only from here on)
When did IRS transcript update? I’ve been checking irs.gov since mid Nov. too. :frowning:

IRS transcript actually updated before December 14 with the date they were going to send the letter saying they wouldn’t issue me the savings bonds. This has happened before when I file close to October 15 so I was kind of expecting it. Apparently there is a window when bonds are issued, and once that window closes the IRS will just refund you in cash.

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I hope this means my PY will process soon too and that they prioritze 2019 1st. I wish they’d take fax tax returns.

So which card is offering 5% PP cashback this year (other than freedom Q4)?

Anyone still waiting for their 2020 refund? I mailed my return in April, tracking shows they received it quickly, but the online tools don’t show it as received or processed. I couldn’t find any news or official notices about which dates they’re processing, but recent posts on reddit suggest that those who filed in mid-March are just now seeing their info finally show up in the online tools, with payments scheduled for later this month.

Guess I just go about getting my Income Taxes done early as possible. Especially when I expect a refund.

The past 2020 IRS was probably completely finished in mid February. Everything turned in and I received my refund within the month.

I realize we all work on a different schedule. When a job must be completed I can’t wait. Soon as all records are In my hands, I get with it.

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I e-filed in early March, and my refund has not been processed yet. I suspect it’s due to the late changes the IRS says they’re applying automatically. At this point I’m happy letting the interest continue accruing.

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I was waiting for the last minute changes that were done in late March to file my taxes correctly and not rely on the IRS to make any corrections. And I’m expecting a refund because I overpaid my estimated tax on purpose. As far as working on a schedule – I do my taxes in a spreadsheet, which means they’re almost done in early January, more than a year before they’re due.

I assumed they werent actually stupid enough to enact changes on forms that had already been produced, distributed, and filed. Turned out, I was the stupid one for underestimating the depths of their stupidity…

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You may have already explained this, but I must have missed it. Why do you paper file instead of efile?

  1. It requires me to provide my phone number on one of the 1040 fields (and maybe email, but I’m not sure). Taxcut lets me print the return without it, but from what I’ve read it would not let me efile. IRS never calls people, allegedly, and I would never want to receive a call claiming to be coming from the IRS, so why would I willingly give them my number?

  2. I don’t trust the tax software providers to not steal some of my info while processing the efile. I run taxcut in a virtual machine and, after installing all the updates, I disconnect it from the network before working on my return.

  3. It costs more (Federal is free with the software, but state costs ~$15). This is more of a protest, since efile should be less than free, since it’s less work for the gov’ment.

I think your #1 and #2 are borderline paranoid, but let’s address the practical item:

  1. Mailing in your returns isn’t free. If you do it right, you’re sending them certified with return receipt.
    Add to that, this is a service you generally have to stand in line for – so the cost of time is real.
    Way more expensive, overall, than $15 for the state e-file – but if it’s a form of protest, you do you, I guess :stuck_out_tongue:
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Not to mention the aggravation of having to check the website and not seeing that they’ve received or processed your return 3 months after you sent it when people that e-filed get their refunds in about 3 weeks.

I hate dealing with mailing things to the IRS. If there was an efile option for the 1040X amended return that cost $100, I would gladly pay it to avoid having an amended return sit in limbo for 6+ months. $15 savings for a 3 month wait, even if you know you’re getting interest, definitely isn’t worth it to me.

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$15 savings for a 3 month wait,…

It isn’t a $15 savings, at all, though.

You get stuck mailing two full-sized-envelope packets (Federal + State), both with considerably more than “letter weight” contents, both needing Certified + Return Receipt.

Before you get into the wasted time, you have spent more than $15 just on postage.

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Why? I’ve used freefillableforms the last couple years, but before that I mailed my returns. And all it cost was one forever stamp, I think one year it took two stamps. No, I never waited until the last minute to mail it, so I could confirm that it was received online before the due date. I still mail my state tax return that way.

You could be right for an initial personal return.

I’m thinking about it from the framework of

  1. an amended return where additional documents related to the changes were needed
  2. trust/estate returns, which just have more paperwork in the first place

Maybe the Certified + Return Receipt is superfluous as well – but I think that is WAY less overkill than Scripta’s other reasons for mailing his return rather than efiling :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

You don’t need return receipt, just Certified. It costs me $8-9 for fed+state (and paid to USPS, not the tax software provider) plus time to drop it off (I usually file early and go to USPS when there’s no line). I did say this is more of a protest than anything else.

#1 is only paranoia if you’ve never received a call from IRS. The first time I received one of those scam calls many years ago (before e-file, I think), the CallerID said “IRS” and had the correct phone number. I didn’t know about that particular scam then, and I didn’t even know that CallerID could be spoofed, so the first thing that came to mind was that the IRS should not have the number for the phone they called. I probably would not have fallen for the scam anyway, but the CallerID really stumped me.

I’m also not so sure that #2 is paranoia, because I don’t know exactly how e-file is processed. I suppose one way would be for the software to make a direct connection with some IRS server and transfer the data, but I don’t think that is the likely implementation. I suspect the data first gets sent to the software provider (HRBlock, TurboTax, etc), then forwarded to IRS.

With this I agree, and it made me think more about it. It has never been a problem before and I just did not think it’d be so bad this year, even though I should have known better.

It’s funny, you know. I have fat fingers, and would be willing to bet that I’m off on at least one digit (not the same one) every year. Fortunately, those fingers are more precise on the digits that count. I also have never gotten a legitimate phone call from the IRS without a snail mail contact first.

I’m with you there.

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