When will I get my tax refund?

First, double-check that your return was accepted. Look up your e-file status.

Then, make sure you enter your federal refund when looking up your status at "Where's My Refund?" – not your combined federal and state refund. Use the amount displayed in your TurboTax Refund Meter, as shown in the example below.

Even if you entered your data properly and waited a full 72 hours after acceptance, don't be alarmed if you still see no results for your refund. Please try again later (except Monday between midnight and 3:00 a.m. Eastern time when the system is offline for maintenance). As long as your return has an accepted status, you can rest assured that the IRS will process your refund in due time.

The date you receive from the "Where's my refund" tool on the IRS website is an estimate and is meant to provide guidance of an approximate refund date.

As your return makes its way through the IRS processing system, the expected refund date may change in response to factors that are not necessarily related to your return.

New fraud-protection safeguards and other enhancements to the IRS refund-processing systems unintentionally delayed some refunds, regardless of which tax software or method was used or how early the return was filed.

The IRS has declared that the vast majority of refunds are being issued within 10–21 days. Even so, some refunds have been taking longer than 21 days.

One reason some refunds are taking longer than 21 days is related to the time-consuming process of fraud-checking. According to a recent news report, there is talk on Capitol Hill about a proposal to delay tax refunds until summer, which will give the IRS enough time to sort out the fraudulent returns from the legitimate ones.

No, TurboTax does not hold on to your refund.

Once your refund is released by the IRS, the funds go directly to your account if you chose direct deposit. However, it may take another 24–48 hours for your bank to process the funds and make them available to you.

If you used the Refund Processing Service, the IRS transmits the funds to the Refund Processing Service provider, who in turn immediately disburses the funds per your request (direct deposit, Refund Card, or check). If you chose direct deposit, add another 24–48 hours for your bank to process the funds before they're available to you. The Refund Processing Service itself does not impose any additional delays on your refund.

If you used the Refund Processing Service and have questions about your refund, you can go to the Santa Barbara Tax Products Group website for more info.