KANSAS CITY, Kan. — While many people are still waiting on their stimulus payment, the wait for tax refunds from the IRS is even longer.
It’s a process that generally has a 21-day turnaround, but some people say they’ve waited months.
“June 1st will be six months. I’m told it’s going to be another up to 60-day hold, which would make it mid-August when I will receive my taxes,” Candy Jones said.
After filing in January, it’s a refund check Jones said she expected by March before the coronavirus halted things.
Getting answers has not only been hard for individual filers but also increasingly difficult for tax professionals.
“I’ve done taxes for quite some time. I left my government job to open my tax practice, but it’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced before,” said Senitria Hampton Monk, owner of ASAP Tax Professionals. “I have people who may have filed earlier on, maybe in February or beginning of March, some of them are still waiting on returns.”
Monk said the delays are a widespread problem.
Besides the obvious coronavirus closings, she said a lot of factors go into a delayed tax return, including errors, incomplete tax returns and fraud.
While the IRS website provides a tool allowing people to check their filing status, the information is still limited.
“We don’t even have access like we used to because the IRS has not been taking phone calls,” Monk said. “The only thing we can tell them is it is processing because we can only check on the IRS website. That’s the same way we check. We have no additional resources.”
Monk said unless there’s a problem, the best thing you can do is wait.
“I joined a Facebook group … ‘Where is my Refund’ is what it is called. I am glad I am not alone,” Jones said. “Getting it was my plan, and not getting it has put me more in a damper.”
If you still have not filed, the Treasury Department delayed the April 15 deadline until July 15.