The Future of the Tax Refund

Tax season is here, and we are ready to tackle it head-on. With all the anxiety that tax season can bring, we wanted to give you something to look forward to. 
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We are inching closer to tax day by the minute, and it's time to stay focused and not get overwhelmed with what's to come. We are here to help you with all of your needs from now until it's over. So please do not hesitate to visit us! Make sure you and your family members are ready and prepared for tax day, and get everything filed on time. The last thing we want is to have you accrue late fees or other issues down the line with the IRS. To ease any worry or pain, we wanted to share with you when you should be expecting your 2020 tax refund. Everyone loves a refund, right? A refund is what so many of our clients look forward to every year, and we can't blame them. They are like little (or hopefully bigger than you expected) consolation prizes for getting your taxes done on time and done properly. As we've discussed in some of our recent blogs, the tax reform laws that started to take effect in 2018 will affect your tax refunds through 2020 and it will affect how much you could potentially be getting back in those refunds. Many factors determine when you receive your refund, some of them depend on you while others will depend on the government and the IRS. 

On Your Plate

• Getting your tax refund back quicker does depend on when you file. The sooner you get them in, the quicker it will be sent back to you! 
• It depends if you submit everyone online or if you mail everything in. Submitting electronically will get your taxes submitted instantly, while the mail can take up to 3 to 4 days to arrive. Then, you will need to tack on a little more time for processing too. 
• If you decide to claim certain tax credits, it will take time to go through each and verify them. This will add more to your wait time and more time on the IRS's end. 
• If you owe previous amounts in taxes, if you have accrued any late fees, or have any other issues that have not been resolved from previous years, you will need to spend time addressing these issues along with taking care of the current year's taxes. This will add on time to both your end of tax time and that of the IRS. 

On Their Plate

• Depending on any tax laws changed or made in December, tax season might be pushed back to early February. This will delay when you can submit electronically and when you can mail in your tax documents. 
• Some tax credits tend to be abused, so if you choose to file certain tax credits you could be facing up to 2 to 3 weeks of delays. Such tax credits that could see delays are the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. If you do choose to use these credits, please do so correctly. 
• Remember that this year's electronic filing begins on Monday, January 27th. The moment the IRS receives your information from that day forward, the processing will begin. 

The Time Frame

• Like we mentioned before, the sooner you send in your taxes, the sooner you will receive the refund. Across the board though, if you file in the last week of January once the filing is open through the first two weeks in February, you could get your return back as quickly as a week. Once you file it past these dates, it can take up to a month or longer to get your return back. 

Things To Remember 

• If you file electronically, it takes between 1 to 3 days for it to be accepted by the IRS. From the date it is accepted, that is when you need to calculate when you will receive your return. 
• If you mail in your taxes, the IRS does state that taxpayers should expect a 3 to 4 week wait period just at the beginning of receiving your documentation, since they will have to put everything in manually. 
• The best thing you can do for yourself is to work with a company like ours. Hire a professional to file everything properly, legally, and on time. Our tax professionals can also help estimate an even better return date for you! 
• There are apps available to you on almost all platforms that can help you track your refund. There is a "Where's My Refund" tool on the IRS website, and an IRS app that can help you track the process too. 
• The IRS highly recommends that you file electronically. 

We are here to help you, bring you peace of mind, and get your refund money back in your pocket as quickly as possible. With this knowledge, it's easy to see that we can help skip some serious wait time and help you avoid worry for this tax season, and the many seasons to come. So until next time, keep this information in mind, stay organized, and visit us to help get your taxes filed on time!