IR-2014-54, April 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — With the close of the tax filing season, the vast majority have filed their income tax returns and received their income tax refunds. As of last Friday, the IRS had received almost 113 million tax returns and issued more than 85 million refunds, about 78 percent of all the refunds the agency will issue this year.
However, taxpayers who have not yet received their refunds can use the “Where’s My Refund?” on IRS.gov or on the smartphone application IRS2Go 4.0 to find out about the status of their income tax refunds. As of April 11, 2014, Where’s My Refund? has been accessed almost 160 million times.
The Where’s My Refund?tool enables taxpayers to track the status of their refund. Initial information will normally be available within 24 hours after the IRS receives the taxpayer’s e-filed return or four weeks after the taxpayer mails a paper return to the IRS. The system updates only once every 24 hours, usually overnight, so there’s no need to check more often.
Taxpayers should have their Social Security number, filing status and exact refund amount when accessing Where’s My Refund?
Taxpayers can find more information about refunds and other tax topics at IRS.gov.
| 2014 FILING SEASON STATISTICS |
| Cumulative statistics comparing 4/12/13 and 4/11/14 |
| Individual Income Tax Returns: |
2013 |
2014 |
% Change |
| Total Receipts |
112,403,000 |
112,741,000 |
0.3 |
| Total Processed |
103,880,000 |
110,266,000 |
6.1 |
| E-filing Receipts: |
| TOTAL |
99,787,000 |
101,289,000 |
1.5 |
| Tax Professionals |
62,163,000 |
61,956,000 |
-0.3 |
| Self-prepared |
37,624,000 |
39,332,000 |
4.5 |
| Web Usage: |
| Visits to IRS.gov |
278,307,884 |
251,540,768 |
-9.6 |
| Total Refunds: |
| Number |
84,581,000 |
85,262,000 |
0.8 |
| Amount |
$229.607 |
Billion |
$234.547 |
Billion |
2.2 |
| Average refund |
$2,715 |
$2,751 |
1.3 |
| Direct Deposit Refunds: |
| Number |
69,680,000 |
69,924,000 |
0.3 |
| Amount |
$202.188 |
Billion |
$202.167 |
Billion |
-0.01 |
| Average refund |
$2,902 |
$2,891 |
-0.4 |
Source: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/As-the-Tax-Season-ends-IRS-answers:-Where’s-My-Refund
Timing is everything, and the National Taxpayer Advocate Service (an independent *watchdog* group within the IRS ) just presented its mid-year report to Congress revisiting its 2002 Congressional recommendation to authorize the IRS to establish *minimum standards* for tax return preparers. Continue reading