Where’s my tax refund? IRS reportedly holding 30 million returns for manual processing

Some 30 million tax returns are being held by the Internal Revenue Service for manual processing, resulting in refund delays for millions of taxpayers.

USA Today reported the delays are caused by changes in the tax code, limited resources, outdated IT systems and a backlog of unprocessed 2019 paper tax returns. In a typical year, the IRS sends most refunds in 21 days or less of the electronic filing. This year, however, the wait for refunds is roughly six to eight weeks.

Changes caused by the stimulus payments have led to some of the delays, including the provision that allows people to file for a Recovery Rebate Credit if they were eligible for any remaining money from the two stimulus payments issued in 2020. Any inconsistencies with the return and the Recovery Rebate Credit can require a manual review and corrections, the paper reported.

Also, the IRS is holding some 3 million paper returns from 2019 and 2020 and 7 million individual returns that have processing errors or fraud identification issues.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the IRS processed 91.15 million individual tax returns through April 9, a drop of 6% from a year ago. At the same time, roughly 9.5 million fewer federal income tax refunds were issued during the same time span, a decline of 12.3% over the same time last year.

You can read the USA Today story here.

You can check the status of your refund here.