where's my federal refund

Millions of tax payers are still waiting for their taxes to be processed by the IRS even though it's over 21 days. The IRS doesn't share your information with us so we can't tell you why your tax return is taking longer than 21 days to process.

• You could try calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 but expect long delays.

Per IRS, they have around 12 million tax returns that have been caught in a processing backlog created by the pandemic, which shut down the IRS for a time. Americans should see their refunds in the coming months. "We would hope to be through this backlog by the summer," said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

• Keep checking the IRS Where's My Refund page to see if your refund status has been updated.

Other reasons some returns take longer to process are the following: 

• Perhaps you had a refund offset.
• Includes errors
• Is incomplete
• Is affected by identity theft or fraud
• Includes a claim filed for an Earned Income Tax Credit or an Additional Child Tax Credit. See Q&A below.
• Includes a Form 8379, which could take up to 14 weeks to process
• Needs further review in general
• The IRS will contact you by mail when we need more information to process your return.