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A brief insight into income tax refund dates

The returns of excess amounts paid as income tax by the taxpayer to the government are termed as a tax refund. It is an important component of your income tax. Most people in the country receive refunds on income tax during the year. Taxpayers often take tax returns as a bonus they get from the government; however, in reality, a tax refund could be considered as an interest-free loan paid to the government by the taxpayer. Most people receive tax refunds even without paying the federal income tax. This is the money that the Federal Government earns as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and gives to low-income households.

The government generally issues income tax refunds to taxpayers in the first or the second quarter of the year. These refunds can be issued to the taxpayers through U.S. saving bonds, personal checks, or are deposited directly to the taxpayer’s bank account. Direct deposit is a better way of getting the tax refunds as it allows the government to deposit the refund amount immediately to the taxpayer’s bank account.

When you are filing for federal tax returns, there are three questions that you must consider—How much tax you are paying? How much return will you get on the taxes? and When will you receive the returns? Though there is no definite answer to the first two questions, you can have some clarity on the last question. From the date of filing the returns, you can estimate the dates of getting the refunds.

Direct deposit refund dates
If you file your federal tax returns electronically, you can estimate the time in which you will get your refund. If you file your tax returns on paper, the process is going to take a much longer time.

You can use tax refund date estimator tool or calculator that you can find online. These calculators would require you to enter your estimated or actual IRS tax return acceptance date, and then select the tax refund method—Bank direct deposit, e-Collect direct deposit, or a check in the mail. Upon doing the needful, you will get your earliest tax refund date and your latest tax refund date.

To get your refund directly to your bank account, also known as direct deposit, you first need to file for income tax electronically. When you are filing your refund, select the direct deposit option. When your tax return is accepted by the IRS, it would get transferred from the US treasury into your bank account.

After the changes in the IRS auditing system, it stopped releasing the full schedule as it used to in the past years. Hence, the direct deposit refund date charts that are available on the web are not accurate. The IRS has warned taxpayers about not relying on the refund schedule. You should check the official website for the announcement of the dates, as the charts, which most people refer to, often overlook many different factors that affect tax refund dates/timings.

At times, the IRS issues more than 90% of refunds within 21 days of filing them or less. When the tax filing requires more reviews, it takes more time for the IRS to issue and deposit tax refunds to the taxpayers’ bank account.

Estimated tax refund schedule of 2018
As mentioned above, the tax refund schedules released are not completely accurate; some of the assumptions in these schedules have been mentioned below.

  • The 2018 tax refund schedule assumes that the filing season begins from Jan 29
  • It also assumes that the refund will take around 15 days when the returns are electronically filed
  • Paper returns are assumed to take more time as compared to the electronically filed returns
  • When a check for paper returns is requested, the refund would take around 10 days to reach the taxpayer’s address after getting approved

Considering these assumptions, here are the estimated dates of direct deposit refunds for 2018.

If the date of filing is Jan 29, the refund date for direct deposit would be February 13.
If the date of filing is February 13, the refund date for direct deposit would be March 2.
If the date of filing is March 1, the refund date for direct deposit would be March 16.
If the date of filing is March 15, the refund date for direct deposit would be March 30.
If the date of filing is April 1, the refund date for direct deposit would be April 16.
If the date of filing is April 17, the refund date for direct deposit would be May 2.

It is essential to know that the tax refund schedule mentioned above is just a guideline, and there is no assurance of IRS following the same. You should not make any financial plans based on this schedule but check the official website for details on the same.

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