[Note: This is an American speaking about United States Income Tax. If you are of another nationality, then you might want to go elsewhere.]
Last year was the first time I used TurboTax and had my refund sent to my bank electronically. One of the things I learned in that experience was the refunds are processed one day per week. In other words, it seemed to me that although you’ll get your refund sooner by filing this week instead of next week, if probably won’t make a difference whether you file today or tomorrow, because they collect a whole week’s worth of work, and send out all those refunds on the same day.
Here are my questions:[ul][li]Does the above sound correct?[/li][li]If it was correct last year, does the IRS still work the same way this year?[/li][li]If it does, then do you know anything else about their schedule?[/li][/ul]Here’s my problem: I have all my W-2’s and everything else, except for one 1099, from a company I’ve done business with in previous years (so I do know their employer number). I have a good estimate of how much that 1099 will be for, which will probably be exactly correct, but it might be about $150 more than my estimate. Last year I received my 1009 from them on Jan 27, so I suppose I ought to wait and check my mail on Monday and Tuesday. But I’d rather use my estimate, and finish up tonight or tomorrow, and file sooner.
If it’s all the same to the IRS, I’ll wait a few days. But if waiting one extra day means that I’ll have to wait a whole extra week for my refund, then I’d rather not.
(I do need the money sooner than later. But fortunately, I don’t need it so bad that I’m willing to pay a storefront guy to give me a Tax Refund Anticipation Check.)
A general follow-up question, then… Is this January 30 starting point normal, or is it because of all the fiscal cliff stuff that kept the government so busy a few weeks back?
If it is a normal thing every year, that would really surprise me, because of how they push everyone to file early.
They didn’t formalize most of the forms until after January 1 anyway and have only begun large-scale shipping of the forms to tax preparers and libraries this past week.
Yes, they always go by a strict schedule, which I’m sure they will post on their website as soon as they start processing returns on the 30th. (Maybe it’s already posted.). E-file by a given date, you’ll get your refund direct deposited by another date about two weeks later (assuming there are no problems with your return). Miss by one day and your refund will be delayed a week.
I wish they’d publicize which day that is. But I’m sure that would just lead to increased use on the day before, which would then make the schedule unreliable. Oh well…
Normally they do, though I haven’t seen the schedule for this year yet. And it doesn’t make the schedule unreliable. Last year it was published prominently on the IRS web site, and they kept to it pretty well.
To clarify and correct a few things posted in this thread:
the IRS opens up e-filing as early as they can; as mentioned, this is usu. around the 20th of Jan. sometime, but the fiscal cliff business changed a lot of tax law and a lot of tax forms.
The IRS also used to only process refunds on Fridays according to a schedule, however this is rapidly coming to an end; many (if not all) parts of the country are being phased into a “Modernized eFile” computer model. Returns processed under this model may have refunds issued any day of the week, often much quicker than in prior years.
Note, however, that because of the delays and changes, it is hard to say how well the IRS will handle the inevitable large volume on the 30th.
Hell, if you have certain types of investments, you aren’t going to be able to file until April. Specifically, MLPs, which don’t sent out their K1s until March. And other pass-through investments which may have ROC. I usually get 3 or 4 corrected 1099s from my broker, before getting the final one near the last day of March. I always call them up just before the one I think might be “final” to see if there’s another in the pipeline.
For the last few years, I’ve been limited in filing because of Charles Schwab. They are consistently late in getting their 1099s out. You should get everything by the end of Jan, but CS has been about 2-3 weeks late.
The official Refund Cycle Chart is no more. The only advice the IRS will offer is that 90% of refunds are expected to be paid within 21 days.
If there’s any good news, you can soon download an App for your smart phone which will track the processing of the return, authorization of the refund, and timing of the deposit/check. The Where’s My Refund website is also supposed to be able to send alerts to your phone to check progress.
By the way, even the Jan 22nd date for opening e-filing is somewhat later than usual. This is partly due to computer upgrades on the IRS side (as MEF continues to handle more of the workload), and partly a result of new policies to prevent fraudulent refund claims, especially in regards to identity theft.
The delay to Jan 30th is totally the fault of the fiscal cliff. And for returns with certain forms (many business forms, especially), we’re looking at an estimate of late February for filing.
Oh, and entity returns (partnerships, corporations, etc.) still have no estimated e-filing at all.
I guess I should get back to preparing returns that I can’t file. :mad: