CHICAGO -- Waiting on your IRS refund? You aren't alone. Nearly 15 million people are waiting too.
The only two certainties in life are said to be death and taxes, but not a timely tax refund. Frustrated taxpayers want to know the status of their federal refund.
"There's no way to break through the IRS wall of communication," retired technology professional Ken Gillig said. He filed his income tax returns 105 days ago, back in April and is expecting a return of more than seven thousand dollars. He's spent hours and hours trying to get through to the IRS on the phone only to be disconnected by an automated line.
So he started checking the status of his 2020 return on the IRS's website.
"It's given the same message 'your return is being processed'," said Gillig. Then he tried requesting a written summary of his return and got a different message. "There's just one line up here that says 'no record of return filed'. I don't know which to believe. I can't get information out from the IRS, especially, just 'do you have it?'"
The IRS is prohibited from talking about specific cases, like Gillig's but told the I-Team that as of July 24, they had 14.7 million unprocessed individual returns. They are making progress, back in June, the federal agency's backlog was nearly 35 million unprocessed returns, due to the pandemic https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2022-objectives-report-to-congress/newsroom/
The federal agency's website currently states that "...all paper and electronic individual returns received prior to April 2021 have been processed if the return had no errors or did not require further review."
The IRS says many filings need further review because they are incomplete, include errors or are affected by theft or fraud.
Gillig's frustration is echoed many taxpayers who want to know where they stand.
"It would be nice to have a channel into them to just get basics. I'm not pressuring them for the money now, just 'do you have it?'" Gillig said.
The IRS says if a filing has an error it could take more than three weeks to issue a refund. When possible, they'll be fixed without contacting the taxpayer.
If the IRS needs more information, a letter will be mailed and the taxpayer needs to respond promptly to get their refund.