Where’s my tax refund? Track down your tax return and when your money will arrive

If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you’ve got less than a month before the May 17 deadline arrives (here’s the best tax software). For those who have filed, you’ll want to keep an eye on your 2020 tax return and refund status. There are two IRS tools you can use to check 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.

A benefit for using the tools is knowing when the IRS has received your tax return, or if they’ve even started processing it yet. 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 show you how to track your refund and when to expect it. 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. 

Here’s how to track your 2020 tax refund

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 might 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).