Getting Your Tax Refund


A tax refund is the amount that a tax payer gets back after filing tax returns for paying more tax than that was required. On an average nearly 77% of those who file taxes get tax refunds. The tax payer has the option of choosing either a direct deposit into the bank or a check or to withhold them for following year’s income tax. You can also split the amount in up to three different payments to different bank accounts. But remember you cannot direct refund to someone else’s account. Amount of tax refunds usually depend on amount of tax you paid and the amount of tax you actually owed, the difference is the tax refund you get. Some people withhold an extra amount from their income to get a bigger tax refund and some don’t because they think it is like losing value of the money by keeping the money in a no interest earning bank. But some people take a safe approach and deduct more taxes from their pay checks to protect themselves from paying large tax amount in the end when there can be possibility of insufficient funds in their checking accounts to pay those taxes owed.

A tax refund usually takes 6 weeks to process by IRS for paper filings and 2-3 weeks for electronically filed returns. IRS encourages people to use electronic returns as they are easy to process, easy for record keeping and also saves a lot of paper. But not all tax returns can be files electronically because electronic file programs does nut support certain forms which you will have to do on paper and mail them to the IRS. But there are chances of your refund getting delayed for long also. The most vulnerable are those people who deduct state tax, educator’s expense or tuition and fee from their returns. The Congress has to be blamed for this problem because they were late in putting the tax breaks into the books and hence leaving the IRS confused. Also in many cases the tax filers were entering the claims on form lines designated for other tax breaks. One of the ways to reduce errors in filing is to use tax software which does everything for you with minimum errors.

If you receive less than expected tax refund or more than calculated or you realized that the calculations were done incorrectly which resulted in lesser or more refunds you can amend those using form 1040(X). Although it is better to file an amendment as soon as possible but no later than 3 years is allowed. Remember to include the schedules that have been changed or any other form or W-2 that you forgot to attach in the last return. The status of your IRS amendment cannot be checked using the online service “where is my refund”. You can check the status of your amendment by calling IRS. It can take up to 8-12 weeks for the amendment to process.

You may not be paid your refund if you are delinquent on child or spouse support payments, have a past due federal debt such as student loan or owe state income taxes. The refund will be used to pay those debts. This applies to the tax payers who are in a payment plan for previous tax debt.

If you lose a tax refund check you should inform IRS and they can provide a new one within 6-8 weeks if the check has been not cashed yet. You may need to complete Form 3911 to initiate a claim.

To maximize tax refund you should maximize tax deductions. One of the ways to maximize deductions is to think of expenses that you can claim for tax deductions like not reimbursed business mileage, business meals, supplies, continuing education etc. You can also deduct your job search expenses which can include phone calls to your employer, cost of traveling for the interview and cost of getting resume help. You can also deduct any charitable deductions you did last year. You can even deduct charitable mileage and travel expenses. Contributing to a retirement plan will decrease your gross income and hence less tax and may be more refunds. If you manage a part time business along with your regular employment, you can deduct the expenses of that part time business. You can deduct the portion of your house mortgage that you use for your office use and also the utilities. Last but not the least; do not forget to deduct the cost of tax preparation service.