Where Is My 2021 Income Tax Return?

If you're expecting an income tax refund, you're probably like me wondering where the heck it is! This tax season has taken longer than the typical 21 days of old to process tax refunds for individuals due to COVID-19 and of course the third and most recent stimulus check.

In years prior, ya know, taxes were due April 15th. This year, however, taxes are due on May 17th.  So there are many still filing. According to Forbes, as of April 2, the IRS had received 93.2 million returns, had processed 83.7 million returns, and had issued 62.3 million tax refunds, averaging $2,893 each, according to the latest 2021 filing season statistics. Not bad, right, considering the past pandemic year....

If it helps you be a bit more patient with the IRS, allow me to share a couple of more reasons why returns are stuck in the "waiting to be processed" pile of returns. For one, the IRS is still handling the backlog of past returns IN ADDITION to processing stimmy checks. And, according to Forbes, "As of March 26, there were 2 million individual tax returns received prior to 2021 in the pipeline. That’s down from 2.6 million as of March 5. For two, an IRS person has to validate all returns of tax payers who used their 2019 income to figure the Earned Income Tax Credit and/the Advance Child Tax Credit. So, if you're like me you fall in that number.

Nonetheless, Uncle Sam is working. Just hold ya mule. To check the status of your refund, click the button below.