Where’s my Refund?

More than a few people are happy to learn they are due a tax refund after filling out their tax returns. If you are one of these people, here is how to check the status of your refund online.

Before getting into checking your refund status, I feel obligated to mention a few things about tax refunds. One involves the nature of refund and the other involves Internet scams.

If you are getting a sizable refund, you need to give some thought to how much money you are deducting from paychecks or paying in quarterly taxes. While a tax refund may sound like a good thing, it really is not. If you overpay your taxes during the year, you are giving the government a free loan. The IRS does not pay interest on any excessive tax payments, so you are really taking it in the pants by not modifying your tax payments.

The second issue to keep in mind is you can ONLY check the status of your tax refund online by going to the IRS web site. With phishing scams starting to focus on tax issues, you may receive emails regarding any and all facets of tax refunds. These emails are scams! The IRS does not send you emails, and surely doesn’t alert you to the fact you are due a refund. If you want to check on your refund, go to the IRS web site and nowhere else. Do not turn a good thing like a tax refund into a bad thing like identity theft.

To check the status of your tax refund, go to the IRS web site by searching for it in a search engine. Next, click the Where’s My Refund link on the home page. Follow the simple steps, click enter and the status will be shown. FYI, you will need a copy of your tax return.

Once you have completed the above, the IRS software will give you a couple of responses. Summarized, they include the fact the return has been received, but not yet processed; the tax refund has been mailed or wired to your bank account on a particular date; or notice the IRS was unable to deliver the refund to you because of some mailing problem. The IRS will also let you know if the refund is delayed because it has issues with your tax return.

Once again, you may want to tweak your tax payments if you are due a sizable refund. There is little reason to give the government a free loan during the year.