If you’ve not received your income tax refund from the IRS yet, you’re not alone. This year, the IRS is experiencing more refund delays than normal for several reasons — from sending out weekly batches of stimulus payments to recalculating taxes paid on unemployment benefits.
Because of the pandemic, the IRS ran at limited capacity in 2020, which put a strain on its ability to process tax returns and send out stimulus checks. The IRS is now open again and processing mail, tax returns, payments, refunds and correspondence, the agency said, but the pandemic continues to cause delays in some services.
The IRS said it’s issuing most refunds in less than 21 days right now but some are taking longer, including for mailed paper tax returns. The IRS said it’s also taking longer than 21 days to issue refunds for some 2020 tax returns that require review, such as determining recovery rebate credit amounts for the first and second stimulus checks or figuring earned income tax credit and additional child tax credit amounts.