Question: I just filed my income tax return. How soon can I expect to receive my refund?
Answer: It depends on how you filed and how you're getting your refund. You'll get the money the fastest if you e-filed your return and have your refund deposited directly into your bank account. E-filers generally receive their refunds less than 21 days after filing. If you mailed in a paper return, it may take up to six weeks to receive your refund.
Your refund may be delayed, however, if you claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit. The IRS is taking longer to review returns that claim those credits to help prevent tax ID theft. In that case, the earliest you could receive your refund is February 27 -- and that's if you chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with your tax return. Otherwise, it will take longer to get your refund. See the IRS's Direct Deposit page for more information about your direct deposit options and instructions.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
You can check on the status of your refund with the IRS's Where's My Refund tool. You'll need to provide your Social Security number, your tax-filing status and your refund amount to look up its status. You can use the tool starting at least 24 hours after e-filing, or four weeks after mailing in your return. The IRS updates the information daily, usually overnight.
The Where's My Refund tool doesn't work if you filed an amended return. In that case, you can use the Where's My Amended Return tool to look up the status of Form 1040X, Amended Tax Return, for the current year and the previous three years.
-
Stocks Can't Hold Meta, Microsoft Gains: Stock Market TodayThe main indexes all opened higher Thursday on impressive Big Tech earnings, but momentum faded into the close.
-
Retirement Health Care Costs Are On the Rise: What You Need to KnowA 65-year-old retiree will face significantly higher lifetime health care costs than they would have a year ago, even with Medicare. Here are the surprising totals.
-
Ask the Editor, July 25: Questions on Four New Tax DeductionsAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, we answer tax questions from readers on four new tax deductions in the "One Big Beautiful Bill."
-
Five Ways Trump’s 2025 Tax Bill Could Boost Your Tax Refund (or Shrink It)Tax Refunds The tax code is changing again, and if you’re filing for 2025, Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ bill could mean a bigger refund, a smaller one or something in between next year. Here are five ways the new law could impact your bottom line.
-
Ask the Editor, July 18: Questions on the $6,000 Senior DeductionAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, we answer tax questions from readers on the new $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and older.
-
Ask the Editor, July 17: Tax Questions on the New Tax LawAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, we answer tax questions from readers on the new tax law.
-
Ask the Editor, July 4: Tax Questions on Inherited IRAs
Ask the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, we answer tax questions from readers on the rules on inheriting IRAs.
-
IRS Watchdog: Three Problems the IRS Must Address in 2025IRS The tax season is over, but new changes to the IRS can pose risks to your taxpayer experience.
-
Ask the Editor, June 27: Tax Questions on Disaster Losses, IRAsAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, we answer tax questions from readers on paper checks, hurricane losses, IRAs and timeshares.
-
Ask the Editor, June 20: Questions on Tax Deductions and IRAsAsk the Editor In our latest Ask the Editor round-up, Joy Taylor, The Kiplinger Tax Letter Editor, answers four questions on deductions, tax proposals and IRAs.
