Question: I got my income tax refund quickly, so I’m not complaining, but I do wonder why the IRS sent me a paper check when I requested direct deposit. I filed my taxes in early February, electronically, as the IRS recommends.
Answer: The Internal Revenue Service on its website lists a few reasons for mailing a paper check to someone who requested a direct-deposit refund: “We can only deposit refunds electronically into accounts in your own name, your spouse’s name or in a joint account. A financial institution may reject a direct deposit. We can’t deposit more than three electronic refunds into a single financial account.”
You are one of several readers who’ve mentioned receiving rapid refunds, welcome news after processing delays common at the federal level the past few years.
The IRS says electronically filed Form 1040 forms are generally processed within 21 days. As for paper returns, the IRS says it’s currently processing paper returns received in February and amended returns received in November.
The agency has improved its “Where’s My Refund?” tool, irs.gov/wheres-my-refund, which it describes as the best way to check on the status of a federal income tax return. It’s also available via the IRS mobile app IRS2Go.
To use the online tool, the taxpayer “must enter their Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification number, filing status and the exact whole dollar amount of their expected refund from the original tax return for the year they’re checking,” the IRS says.
Status updates are generally available about 24 hours after receipt of a taxpayer’s e-filed tax year 2023 return; three to four days after receipt of an e-filed tax year 2022 or 2021 return; or four weeks after mailing a paper return, it says.
This tool cannot be used to check the status of an amended return; for that, use irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return.
We’ve also received mahalo from readers who filed their Hawaii income tax returns as soon as tax season opened and were pleased to quickly receive their refunds. One reader said he got his money back in 10 business days, after waiting nearly three months last year, and others received their refunds about two weeks after filing. Processing times likely will increase as we get deeper into tax season.
“Unfortunately, we have received only 35% of the total number of individual income tax returns compared to calendar year 2023 so it will get busier. So yes, the message to the public remains: File early, file electronically and review the return before submitting,” Gary H. Yamashiroya, a spokesperson for the state Department of Taxation, said Tuesday in an email.
“Filing electronically and requesting the refund to be directly deposited to a bank account will always be the most efficient manner to receive the refund. Over 90% of the returns are filed electronically. This is an increase from 70% in calendar year 2019,” he said.
DOTAX’s website, tax.hawaii.gov, includes a “Check Your Refund Status” link on the home page. Status updates should be available seven to eight weeks after e-filing and nine to 11 weeks after filing by mail, the website says. Filers awaiting a paper check should add two weeks to that timeline, it says.
Mahalo
Mahalo to the driver who let me know that something was flapping in the wind from my back seat. I was able to pull over and replace the item in my car correctly before it was ruined. It was a long dress I had bought and placed carefully in the back seat. I hadn’t realized that my passenger was not so careful when they exited my vehicle and shut the car door with part of the dress hanging out. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
