Tax Refund Delays Anger Taxpayers, IRS Blames Computer Glitch
Taxpayers across the nation are growing increasingly angry at the IRS after many have been left waiting weeks, others a month or longer, to receive their tax refunds.
The IRS has attributed tax refund delays to new fraud filters that were put in place for the 2012 filing season, and claims that the information on Where's My Refund should update as returns make their way through processing, but little other information has been released. And though the IRS insists that the majority of taxpayers should receive their refund within the historical range of 10 - 21 days, many taxpayers say this simply has not been true.
For some taxpayers who filed their 2011 tax returns in early January at the beginning of tax season, there has been no sight of their refund and few answers to set their minds at ease. Where's My Refund on irs.gov and the IRS2Go app gives various evasive messages ranging from "you should receive your refund by January 31, 2012", "you should receive your refund within 6 weeks", and for others, "you may have entered your information incorrectly." And to top it all off, speaking to IRS representatives has been a less than pleasant experience.
"I've gotten many different answers when I call the IRS about my refund. None of them seem to know what they're talking about, I'm beginning to think they'll tell you anything just to get you off the phone," says one angry taxpayer on igotmyrefund.com.
And what seemed to taunt some taxpayers the most was last week when the IRS sent out a tweet which read, "Heavy phone traffic today at IRS. Can you wait until later in the week?"
For those taxpayers who have already been waiting 6 weeks for a refund of the money they worked hard for throughout the year and are rightfully owed - or at least a reasonable update - waiting until later in the week is asking a lot.
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