Explainer videos
Short videos on the questions readers ask most. Each one links to the full guide.
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Where's My Refund, explained
Where's My Refund is the free IRS tracker for your federal refund. It is the same data the IRS phone line reads.
Status appears about 24 hours after you e-file this year's return, and about four weeks after you mail one.
You need four things: your SSN or ITIN, filing status, tax year, and the exact whole-dollar refund amount.
Stage one, Return Received. The IRS has your return and is processing it. No refund date exists yet.
Stage two, Refund Approved. Processing is finished, the amount is confirmed, and a send date is set.
Stage three, Refund Sent. The money has left the Treasury. Direct deposits usually post within about five days.
The tracker updates once a day, usually overnight. Most e-filed refunds arrive within 21 days.
How the IRS refund tracker works, when your status appears, and what each of the three stages means.
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How long will your refund take?
Most refunds from e-filed returns are issued within 21 days of the e-file date, according to the IRS.
A mailed paper return takes six weeks or more from the day the IRS receives it.
By law, returns claiming the earned income credit or additional child tax credit cannot be refunded before February 15.
After identity verification, a refund can take up to nine weeks from the date you verify.
An amended return on Form 1040-X takes eight to twelve weeks, and sometimes up to sixteen.
The IRS has not yet announced when the 2027 filing season opens. We update the guide when it does.
Refund timelines for e-filed and mailed returns, the February 15 credit hold, and what slows a refund down.
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Your return is still processing
Still processing means the IRS has your return but has not finished it, so no refund date exists yet.
Inside 21 days of e-filing, this is normal. Checking the tracker more often will not change it.
Past 21 days, the usual causes are a credit hold, an error the IRS is correcting, or an identity check.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service says reviews take 45 to 180 days, depending on how complex the return is.
If the IRS asked you for information, allow about 60 days after you send it.
Call after 21 days from e-filing, six weeks from mailing, or when the tracker tells you to.
Why a return sits at still processing, how long that is normal, and the point at which to act.
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Under review is not an audit
Under review means the IRS pulled your return out of automatic processing to check something by hand.
It usually checks income, withholding, credits or your identity. It is verification, not examination.
A CP05 notice or Letter 4464C asks you to wait 60 days from the notice date before calling.
More than 14 million returns were suspended for review during the 2026 filing season.
If the letter asks for documents, send exactly what it lists and keep a copy of everything.
If the wait causes real financial hardship, the Taxpayer Advocate Service may be able to help.
What CP05 notices and Letter 4464C mean, how long reviews take, and when to contact the IRS.
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Injured spouse Form 8379: how to get your share of a joint refund back
Injured spouse Form 8379 lets a spouse on a joint return recover their share of a refund that was, or will be, taken for the other spouse's past-due debt.
Form: Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation.
Covers debts for: Federal tax, state income tax, state unemployment, child support, federal non-tax debt.
Processing, e-filed with return: About 11 weeks.
Part I of the form walks you through eligibility. In practice you need all three of the following.
You have three ways to file. The best one depends on whether you already know the debt exists.
Part III of the form asks you to divide each item on the joint return between the two of you, as if you had filed separate returns.
Injured spouse Form 8379 explained: who qualifies, filing with the return or later, how the allocation works, processing times and the filing deadline.
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Tax refund offset: why part or all of your refund was taken
A tax refund offset happens when the government uses some or all of your federal refund to pay a past-due debt, such as child support, a defaulted federal loan, state income tax or a state unemployment compensation debt.
Who takes the money: Bureau of the Fiscal Service, through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP).
Federal tax debts: Applied by the IRS first; explained on a CP49 notice.
Share of a tax refund that can be taken: Up to 100% for non-tax, child support and state debts.
Federal law lists the debts that can reduce an overpayment and sets the order they are paid in.
Where's My Refund follows your return through Return Received, Refund Approved and Refund Sent.
BFS mails a letter when it takes money from a payment. The IRS says the notice lists the original refund amount, the amount offset, and the agency that received the money.
Why was my refund offset? Your name and Social Security number matched a delinquent debt in the Treasury Offset Program, such as past-due child support, a defaulted federal loan or a state tax bill.
A tax refund offset means your refund paid a past-due debt. See which debts qualify, what the notice shows, who to contact and how to get money back.
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IRS reject codes: what each e-file rejection means and how to clear it
IRS reject codes are short business-rule codes, such as IND-031-04 or IND-507-01, that the IRS e-file system sends back when a return fails an automated check.
Rejected return status: Not filed until a corrected version is accepted.
Resubmission window after the deadline: 5 calendar days (e-file) or 10 calendar days after the reject notice (paper).
Most common identity codes: IND-031-04 (prior-year AGI), IND-181-01 (IP PIN).
The table below covers the codes the IRS explains on its own pages and that individual filers run into most.
Identity codes are the largest group because every e-filed Form 1040 has to be signed electronically.
The IRS lets each Social Security number appear only once as a dependent across accepted returns for a tax year.
Where do I find my IRS reject code? It appears in the rejection email or message from whatever you used to e-file, usually in a format like IND-031-04.
IRS reject codes explained: what IND-031-04, IND-181-01, IND-507-01, IND-517-02 and other e-file rejection codes mean and how to fix and resubmit.
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State tax refund status: how to track your state refund
To check your state tax refund status, use your own state revenue department's refund tracker, not the IRS tool; the IRS cannot see state refunds.
Where to check: Your state revenue department's refund tracker.
What most trackers ask for: SSN plus the exact state refund amount.
Typical e-file timeline: About 3 to 5 weeks, depending on the state.
Each state posts its own processing guidance, and the numbers are not directly comparable: some states quote the time to issue the refund, others the time before you should call.
State refunds often arrive after federal refunds because states start later, run their own fraud screens, and some wait for federal data before releasing money.
Wait until your state's posted window has passed before you call, because phone staff generally see the same screen you do.
Can I check my state refund on the IRS website? No. The IRS Where's My Refund tool covers only federal refunds.
Check your state tax refund status on your state revenue department's tracker: what each state asks for, typical timelines, and why states lag the IRS.
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Tax refund dates 2027: what is set, what is pending
Only two tax refund dates for 2027 are fixed today: February 15, 2027, the earliest day EITC and ACTC refunds can be released, and April 15, 2027, the filing deadline for tax year 2026.
Filing deadline, tax year 2026: Thursday, April 15, 2027.
Earliest EITC/ACTC refund release: February 15, 2027 (federal holiday).
Season opening day: Not yet announced; usually announced in early January.
If you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit, the law fixes your first possible refund date at February 15.
These windows apply the IRS guideline of about 3 weeks from e-filing for returns with no credit holds, reviews or bank problems.
Do not commit money to a bill or purchase based on a projected refund date.
Tax refund dates 2027: the April 15 deadline and February 15 PATH Act date are set; the IRS opening day and EITC deposit target are not yet announced.
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Form 3911: how to fill it out and where to send it
Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund, is the one-page IRS form that asks the IRS to trace a federal refund you never received or a refund check that was lost, stolen or destroyed.
Full name: Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.
Current revision: October 2022 (Rev. 10-2022).
Who must use it: Married filing jointly filers (or call the IRS).
Married couples who filed jointly have to use Form 3911 or talk to an IRS representative to start a trace, because a joint refund belongs to both spouses and the form requires both signatures.
Form 3911 has three sections. Anything that does not apply can be marked N/A, and the form asks you to complete every part rather than skip lines.
Send Form 3911 to the Refund Inquiry Unit for the state you live in now.
Form 3911 starts an IRS trace on a refund you never got. Line-by-line instructions, the mailing address and fax number for your state, and next steps.
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IRS refund identity verification: which letter you have and what to do
To release a refund held for IRS identity verification, verify using the method your letter names: online at irs.gov/verifyreturn for the CP5071 series (including 5071C) and Letter 5447C, by phone for Letter 4883C, or in person for Letter 5747C.
Online verification site: irs.gov/verifyreturn (CP5071 series and Letter 5447C).
Phone-only letter: Letter 4883C.
In-person-only letter: Letter 5747C.
Look at the upper right corner of the first page, or the bottom corner of each page, for the notice or letter number.
Every route asks for the same core proof: that you know what is on the return and that the return is yours.
After a successful check, the IRS says it may take up to 9 weeks to receive your refund or have an overpayment credited.
Why does the IRS need to verify my identity for my refund? Its fraud filters flagged the return filed under your SSN or ITIN as possibly not yours.
When the IRS asks you to verify identity before it releases a refund, your letter sets the method: online, phone or in person. Each letter and its timing.