Track my refund money: See if the IRS has processed your tax return and when it

You’ve got less than a month left to get your taxes filed before the May 17 deadline if you haven’t filed yet (here’s the best tax software). But if you have filed, you’ll want to keep an eye on your 2020 tax return and refund status. The IRS has two tools you can use to see your updates online — they’re similar to how you track the status of your third stimulus check (or a “plus-up payment“) of up to $1,400 per person.

The main reason for using one of the tools is so you can know when the IRS has received your tax return and if they’ve started processing it. You can also use it to see when your refund has been sent — especially if you’re waiting on missing stimulus money you claimed as a Recovery Rebate Credit.

We’ll explain how to track your return, when to expect a refund and more. If you have kids, you’ll want to know about child tax credit payments, including how much money you’ll get. Here’s what we know about a fourth stimulus check, who needs to file an amended tax form and seven tax breaks for 2020. This story was recently updated. 

Start tracking your 2020 tax refund now

You need several things on hand to track the status of your tax refund: your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, your filing status — for example, single, married or head of household — and your exact refund amount in whole dollars, which can be found on your tax return. Also, make sure it’s been at least 24 hours before you try tracking your refund.

Using the IRS tool Where’s My Refund, enter your Social Security number or ITIN, your filing status and your exact refund amount, then press Send. If you entered your information correctly, you’ll be taken to a page that shows your refund status. If not, you may be asked to verify your personal tax data and try again. If all the information looks correct, you’ll need to enter the date you filed your taxes, along with whether you filed electronically or on paper.

There’s also a mobile app, called IRS2Go, that checks your tax refund status. The IRS updates the data in this tool overnight each day, so if you don’t see a status change after 24 hours or more, check back the next day.

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How long it could take to get your tax refund

The IRS says it issues most tax refunds within 21 days, but many people get their refunds much sooner. However, this year, the IRS is reportedly facing delays complicated by the fact that it had to send out third stimulus checks at the same time (here’s more on stimulus checks and tax season 2020). However, now that most stimulus payments have been made, the IRS should be switching gears to processing tax returns.

If there are any errors, it might take the agency longer to process and issue your tax refund. The same goes for people who filed a claim for an earned income tax credit or the child tax credit (here’s who qualifies for the child tax credit).