If you're one of those Americans who actually has their act in gear and has already filed their income taxes, first I want to congratulate you on being waaaay ahead of me. And second, let me just calm you right down about that terrifying greeting on the Where's My Refund website maintained by the IRS. Your tax return is safe and sound.
Which isn't exactly what the broken "Where's My Refund" is telling people. Enter your details on there, and the government agency has been spitting back a warning that they have no information about their big fat check. Before you hyperventilate yourself into the hospital, here's what you need to know to get your hands on that moo-lah.
You don't have to re-compile all that information and try to come up with the same deductions all over again! Your money is safe and sound and probably headed over the wires to your bank account as we speak.
The IRS is aware of the error on its site, and they've made it clear that the glitch only affects the messages to tax filers, not the actual electronic filing process. So the return is there, and it's being processed. It will still take the traditional 10 to 21 days after arriving in the federal offices for any monies owed to you to make their way out of there and into your wallet. About 90 percent of the refunds get to Americans within that 21-day window, so there's a good chance you'll see your money sooner rather than later!
Instead of checking the site obsessively over the next few days to see if the IRS has it working again, a better bet is to check with your bank each Wednesday after 11 a.m. That's the day the IRS releases electronic payments in the form of direct deposits into filers' bank accounts. Paper checks are mailed out on Fridays, so if you opted to get your money via snail mail, do the math on how long it usually takes to get something to your post office and go from there.
If you do insist on checking with the IRS, don't bother to do it until at least 72 hours after you e-file or four full weeks after you send in the physical papers because your information takes some time to make its way into the system anyway.
When did you get your taxes filed this year?
Image via John-Morgan/Flickr