You have to file your taxes by April 18th, 2022, but when can you expect your IRS income tax refund to come in? It depends!
The IRS started accepting tax returns a whole 17 days earlier than last year, which means that people have had more time to file and therefore more time to receive their return. As of Monday, January 24th, 2022, you have been able to submit your information for the IRS to process. This means that if you’re expecting a return, the earlier you get your forms in, the earlier you can possibly receive it!
However, filing your taxes early doesn’t necessarily entitle you to get your IRS income tax refund any earlier. It’s a bit more intricate than that. Let’s dive into the details and what you can expect for Tax Day 2022.
How to File Your Taxes Quickly
First and foremost, if you want your 2022 IRS income tax refund quicker, we suggest filing your taxes as soon as possible. Lucky for you, there are numerous ways to file your taxes easily and quickly these days.
Namely, you’ll need to have all of your personal information on hand. This includes your social security number, your W2s (if applicable), and any other income-related forms and receipts that you’ll need. Once you’ve got the details on hand, we suggest seeing if you qualify to file your taxes for free through the IRS free file. Click here to see if you qualify.
If you don’t qualify, you still do likely qualify to file your taxes easily via an online tax filing system such as TurboTax or TaxSlayer. Below are some of our top recommendations:
- H&R Block: You can file your taxes for free via H&R Block if you only have to submit W2s and don’t have freelance income, rental property income, or other complex forms and deductions to make.
- TurboTax: This well-known tax filing website was participating in the Free File program in 2021 but is no longer participating. Filing your taxes through TurboTax is still free, however, and they’ll guide you through everything you need to know!
- FreeTaxUSA: This is one of the best options for those who have freelance income they need to report, file, and pay taxes on. It’s usually hard to find a free tax filing service that’ll help and let you file freelance taxes. But, as is the case with other platforms, state tax returns are extra and will cost you $14.99 each.
- TaxSlayer: Regardless of whether you’re filing a federal or state tax return, TaxSlayer is always 100% free! And, their system walks you through the right questions and processes just the same as the others do on this list. However, the only drawback here is that, unlike FreeTaxUSA, you do have to pay a fee to file freelance taxes (currently, it’s $47).
After You File Your Taxes, How Long Does it Take to Get a Refund?
Now, back to the question at hand! Let’s say you’ve already filed your taxes via one of the options listed above, or even via your own tax specialist. Now, when can you expect to have that return in hand?
According to CBS, “most taxpayers who file electronically and choose direct deposit will get their refund within 21 days.” However, note that they say “most taxpayers.” Who decides when somebody gets their returns? That’s actually not how it works.
If you submitted everything correctly, you should get your return within 21 days. However, if you submitted something that’s wrong or accidentally forgot to add something that should be in your return, it might take them longer to process your paperwork. That, in turn, leads to a delayed refund…
Tips for Ensuring Your Tax Refund Gets Processed Quickly
There are, of course, things that you can do to ensure that your taxes get processed quickly and without any issue. When that happens, you’ll get your tax refund quicker.
First of all, double-check the information on your returns. If the IRS automatically catches any discrepancies, it’ll trigger a manual review from one of their employees. Now, this isn’t to say that they’ll automatically audit you, but it does mean that they’ll have to double-check everything in your paperwork to make sure all of the other details are accurate.
Secondly, we definitely suggest you set up a direct deposit to receive your refund that way. Waiting for the IRS to mail you out a physical check can delay things quite a bit (particularly if you live in areas where inclement weather causes delivery delays this time of year).
By the way: Did you know that you can set up direct deposit with your Cheese Debit Card in just under 1 minute? Learn how to do so here!
And, finally, the IRS has noted that for 2022, you might experience delays if you are filing an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Child Tax Credit. Really, this only applies to people who have submitted their tax returns super early, but still…it’s best to plan ahead for that and give them a bit of extra time to get your refund sent back to you.
Receive Your IRS Income Tax Refund in Your Cheese Account
As mentioned above, it helps to set up direct deposit so that the IRS can, well, directly deposit your income tax refund into a bank account instead of wasting time (and paper and gas) to send you a physical check in the mail.
With your Cheese Debit Card, you can easily set up direct deposit in under a minute. We’ve detailed all of the instructions here on how to do that here to make things easy for you. Taxes are already confusing enough. The last thing you need is for your bank to make things even more confusing for you.
Don’t have a Cheese Debit Card yet? Well, why don’t you get one?! Apply for your card here.
