Questions For The IRS About “Where’s My Refund?”

If you have successfully filed your tax returns and are eagerly waiting for your tax refunds, you are definitely not alone. Startups often have losses and are owed credits of refunds. Millions of Americans have the exact “Where’s My Refund” question looming over their heads as soon as 21 days of filing for their tax return elapse and they still haven’t received it back. Well, the actual provision is for 21 days of filing the return online or 6 weeks after mailing the paper return before you should actually get concerned about where your tax refund might be. Once the stipulated time period is over, you must contact your local IRS office or call them on one of their helpline numbers as provided on their website.

However, we understand that contacting the IRS is all easier said than done. There’s no denying that dealing with the IRS seems like a scary and intimidating prospect in itself. You must be armed with all possible information and prospective questions before blatantly contacting them. Below are some common questions that get routinely asked. You can refer to them to see if you have a similar query.

What is Tax Topic 151?

Do you get a statement that says “Tax Topic 151: Appeal My Rights”, every time you log into the Where’s My Refund? This statement indicates tax offsets such as unpaid child support payments, unpaid taxes as well as offsets in federal student loans. In this case, the Department of Treasury would take cognizance of your situation and will be handling it henceforth. The IRS is not of much help here. In this scenario, you can either contact the Bureau of Fiscal Service or click on:  https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/  for further clarification.

What does Topic 152 mean?

It simply means that you are in a group owed tax refunds. The IRS has mandated that taxpayers should receive their returns within 21 days of filing their taxes. This means exact 21 days and not “business days” as sometimes it is commonly believed.

What Does It Mean When I’m Given A Direct Deposit Date?

If in case there is a mismatch between the name mentioned on the tax return and the name mentioned on the bank account, then you might receive this message. Generally this happens when spouses change their names when they get married but usually persons involved in identity theft also change their names. The IRS verifies tax return information before listing a date on which a direct deposit can be expected. If you still do not receive the deposit after the date mentioned, you are given a contact number which you can call to resolve your query.

In My Case of Identity Theft?

While the IRS has become increasingly active in cracking down on identity theft, there are still lots of people still trying to pull it off.  One aggressive action that the IRS does to combat identity theft is by placing your tax refund on hold if they feel that any form of identity theft might be going on.  In addition, it is true that every time you place a call to the IRS they demand information for “verifying your identity”. However, it’s only for security purposes and not necessarily because you have been a victim of identity theft, however, if you do not answer the questions correctly, they can put a hold on your tax refund even if it is you calling.  That is why you must be careful and have all information available when calling about your taxes.

When placing a call about your taxes, the IRS Operational Manual makes it mandatory to have an ID verification at the time of the call. It directs its representatives to ask for the complete name and/or title of the caller as well as the purpose of the call. Any failure to comply is regarded as an unauthorized tax disclosure. In this scenario, an IRS employee would be liable to penalties as relevant to IRC Section 7213A, IRC Section 7431 and IRC Section 7213. Broadly speaking, this may lead to the employee’s loss of job, fine imposition, or some other penalty.  This is why they will place a hold on our tax refunds, and cause a significant delay on them.  They might do this anytime they feel that someone might be trying to perform some form of identity theft.  This would then cause significant delays in you receiving your tax refund back.

Solutions!

Luckily there is a solution that the IRS has provided.  That is that you can track tax refunds, using a page called “Where is My Refund”!  All you need to do is go to the website for “Where is My Refund” found at:  https://www.irs.gov/refunds

There is also another solution called a tax refund loan advance.  You can get one of these tax refund advances through most of the big tax preparation companies if you used them, or there is a company, Tax Refund Loans, that allows you to always get loans on tax refund.