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No Tax Refund Yet? The IRS Might Owe You Extra Money Every Day

No Tax Refund Yet? The IRS Might Owe You Extra Money Every Day

Although it might seem like tax season is over and done with in 2022, there are actually thousands of manually filed returns that haven't yet been processed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

One recent Yahoo! report noted that over 140 million individual 1040 tax returns have already been processed, with nearly 96 million refunds already issued. 

This constitutes about 97% of all 2021 tax filings. Per one assessment, the average refund received by American families this year was $3,304.

If, however, you're among the Americans who have not yet received a tax refund, there may be good news for you -- the IRS may actually owe you extra money for every day your refund remains unprocessed. 

Yahoo! explains:

Most individuals who e-filed returns with a direct deposit refund received their payment within the standard 21-day processing period. However, there are still millions who are experiencing refund delays months beyond their filing date.

If you do not receive your refund within 45 days of filing, the IRS is obliged to pay you interest for each additional day (if you filed by the IRS tax deadline day on April 18). As of July 1, filers are eligible for an additional 1% in interest. Furthermore, the 4% compounded daily interest has increased to 5% due to the Federal Reserve's latest rate hikes. IRS interest rates are determined by taking the Fed's rate plus 3% points.

According to a Congressional report issued by National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins, the IRS has a backlog of 8.2 million tax forms. This is more than at this time last year, and they are getting processed more slowly.

Collins wrote, "When I released my Annual Report to Congress six months ago, I wrote that 'Paper is the IRS's Kryptonite, and the agency is still buried in it.'"

If you have yet to receive an IRS refund this year, use TaxBuzz's directory of nearly 50,000 tax professionals to find a local expert who can help you understand what steps to take next. 

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

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