Americans who qualify for a tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service sometimes wait years for the payment to show up in their bank accounts — at times without even receiving an explanation as to why.
Identity theft, an inconsistency or faulty IRS computers could explain why some filers don’t get the promised refund within a reasonable period of time.
Chris Horan, a Virginia Beach, Va. resident who works as head of sales for a financial-services software company, told The Wall Street Journal that he has been waiting for at least 13 months for his $30,000 refund from 2022.
Horan, 42, regularly checks the “Where’s My Refund” site on the IRS’s portal only to find the same message: “We have received your tax return and it is being reviewed.”
When he and his account both call the IRS, they are told to try again in another 60 days.
“In no world would I think I’d be in April 2024 waiting for a 2022 refund,” Horan said.
Meanwhile, Horan has already received the tax refund from his 2023 filing. The refund came through on April 8 — less than three weeks after his account e-filed his returns.
