When will I get my tax refund?
Congratulations – you finished your taxes! Now you're wondering: When will I get my refund?
- For your state refund status, refer to the How to Track your State Refund section, below.
- For your federal (IRS) refund status, wait at least 72 hours after your e-file has been accepted – 4 weeks if you mailed your return.
- This gives the IRS time to update their system with your information.
- After the wait period is over, visit the IRS "Where's My Refund" page to look up the status of your refund.
"Where's My Refund" has no info. Is my return lost? Do I have to re-do it?
No. Even if you waited the full 72 hours after acceptance, don't be alarmed if the IRS "Where's my Refund" site displays inconsistent information – or no results at all – when you search for your refund status. This is caused by intermittent issues with the "Where's My Refund" lookup tool and doesn't mean you're being audited or that you have to re-do your tax return.
As long as your return has an accepted status, you can rest assured that the IRS will process your refund in due time. Find out if your return was accepted.
I know people who already got their refund. Why's mine taking so long?
The IRS recently implemented fraud-protection safeguards and other enhancements to its refund-processing systems, which unintentially delayed some refunds regardless of which tax prep software or method was used, the complexity of the return, or how early it was filed. (According to a widely-circulated news article, most of the refund delays involved returns filed between February 2 and February 7.)
As the IRS continues to work through the issues that are inevitable with a system upgrade of this magnitude, they have publicly declared that the vast majority of refunds are being issued within the historical 10–21 day timeframe. Still, some refunds are taking longer than 21 days, and if your refund is among those affected, we sympathize and want to reassure you that you will – eventually – get your refund.
TurboTax will continue to monitor this situation and will provide updates to this article as soon as they become available.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We're taxpayers too, and some of us can relate all too well with what you're going through.
Should you need information about your state tax refund, here are 2 ways to track your 2011 state tax refund:
1. Download our free MyTaxRefund app — You can check the status of both your e-filed federal and state return.
2. Select your state to access your state tax agency's refund lookup service. (States not listed don't collect income tax. More info)
Each state sets its own schedule for processing tax returns, but sometimes situations change how they process returns. While TurboTax works hard to have the latest information, state agencies are the source for refund information.
If you are unable to get your answer from the state refund contact above, click here to contact your state taxing agency.
