Delay in tax return processing?

Is anyone else experiencing delay in tax return processing this year? I know about the delay in paper-filing tax returns. But I am talking about the e-filed ones. I have more than a few clients this year who all filed electronically, but still do not have a refund status on "Where is My Refund?" after 3 weeks. A few of them have been waiting for more than 2 months. All these clients have no tax issues before and all are very basic tax returns.

I think we are all experiencing this.

I am talking about the e-filed tax returns though, not the paper-filed ones.

Me, too.

Are there any known reasons for the delay? I cannot see how e-filed tax returns processing can be affected by the pandemic.

It is quite difficult to tell your clients that there is practically nothing you can advise them to do and all they can do is to wait.

No particular reason - the computer snagged it for human intervention. we wait.

Do any of them have EIC? I believe that causes a delay.

Even though a return is E-filed and shows acceptd on your tax software it has not gone thru the complete processing by IRS .It is my understanding that every return goes thru a unique processing by IRS computers. The shutdown at IRS for approximately 3 months significantly hampered the time process .

IRS has theft and fraud filters. Some of the filters have a 50% false positive rate. If filter snags return then human must look at. Have had many efiled accepte returns this season hung for months. Last year had one hung on a 1341 claim of right tax credit. Took 9 months to clear but only with the help of TAS( taxpayer advocate)

I have three electronically filed, but all three asked for refunds in check form. Our local IRS liason says the national office has asked for smaples so they can be traced to the why...

I have one that we've been waiting for the refund. Filed in April. Spoke to IRS on the tax practitioner hotline and then to Taxpayer Advocate office. When i first called I was told that the return was classified as a "balance due" return because the tax was greater than the withholding. The estimated tax payments weren't factored in. The agent told me the return would be completed by end of June.

When June passed i called and got referred to the Taxpayer Advocate office. They said nothing to be done because the estimated tax payments haven't posted to the account. She could see the payments. They just haven't posted to the tax return.

Now they say by mid-August.

Are we on the same page? All my clients efiled already received refund. All the tax payments or estimated tax payments are processed in July.

However, when I called California Franchise tax board and IRS about paper filings, the agents asked me to wait for another month to call in.

i have some clients who are waiting since IRS closed because of the pandemic, i have clients to forgot to give me the 1095 A at the time of filing and are waiting since February for the refund. this year has been a nightmare i have another ones who haven't done taxes for 3 years but because the stimulus they run to do it, and are waiting also on those 3 years, now are receiving letters for verify identity. but clients doesn't understand is not us is the IRS. all of them e-filed i have another ones that i e-filed same time and got their refund in less than 2 weeks.

I was told that b/c some W-2s & 1099s are paper-filed, the IRS is waiting till these are processed to match what you claim on your, even e-filed, tax return, before issuing any refunds.

Maria U. Ku, CPA
Oakland, CA

Called PPS for a client today on an EIC return that has been filed for 10 weeks. We provided drivers license info, same address and bank as last year, but apparently it got picked up for identity verification.

IRS just now sent the 5071-C letter and after online response it can still take 9 weeks to issue the refund. Not sure why it was picked up, perhaps because they filed married this year and in prior years one was HOH and one was a nonfiler.