Refunds

The exact amount of your refund, your Social Security number or ITIN, your filing status, and the tax year are all listed on your tax return. 

If you don’t have your tax return, you can view your transcript in your account. You can also get a transcript by mail. 

Your refund might be delayed for any of these reasons:

• Common mistakes - These include forgetting to sign your return or making a math error.
• Earned Income Credit claim - By law, refunds on tax returns that include this credit are held until mid-February to prevent fraud.
• Additional Child Tax Credit claim - This credit can be complicated and requires more time to review.
• Amended return - We must compare and review both returns.
• Injured spouse relief request - We must manually process your case.

Your refund may be reduced to pay prior taxes owed.

Your refund may also be reduced to pay a past due debt such as child support, federal agency nontax debt or state income tax. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), which issues IRS refunds, will mail a notice about the debt offset. The details of the offset aren’t provided to the IRS.

More about reduced refunds

Sometimes we make changes or corrections to your tax return which could increase your refund amount. When this happens, we’ll mail you a notice explaining the adjustment.

If you believe your refund was increased accidentally or you received a refund you aren’t entitled to, then you must promptly return the erroneous refund.

You can request a refund trace if your refund check was lost or stolen.

Before you start

Confirm the full processing time has passed. You should receive your refund check within 4 weeks from the date we issue it.

You can confirm this date and your refund status in the refund tracker or in your online account.

How to request a refund trace

It depends on your filing status:

Single, married filing separately or head of household

Start a refund trace with the refund tracker or the IRS app. (Current year refunds only.)

You can also call the automated hotline at 800-829-1954. Have your tax return on hand.

Married filing jointly

Contact us at 800-829-1040. Have your tax return on hand.

Or complete and send us Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.

After you request a refund trace

We’ll process your request depending on the status of the refund check:

If the check wasn’t cashed

• If the check is less than a year old - We’ll cancel it and mail a new refund check to you. You should receive the new check within 4 weeks from the date we issue it.
• If the check is more than a year old – We’ll mail a new refund check with a CP32 notice. You should receive the check within 4 weeks from the date we issue it. If for any reason we can’t reissue the refund, we’ll mail a CP32A notice and ask you to contact us to request a replacement refund check.

If the check was cashed

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) will mail you a claim package and a copy of the cashed check.

Follow the instructions to complete and return the claim package.

BFS will review your claim and the signature on the canceled check to determine if the IRS can issue you a new refund check. This review can take up to 6 weeks to complete.   

Mistakes happen. To correct any errors, file an amended return. You can file electronically with tax software for the current and past 2 years.