The 2026 tax season began on January 26, 2026. Along with this, a common question among taxpayers is when they will receive their refund. If you are one of those who have already filed your return, you should know that if you filed electronically, you can expect your refund within 21 days, and if you filed on paper, you will have to wait two months.
The timeline for receiving refunds has been officially announced, but it’s important to know that not everyone will receive their refund according to this timeline. Only those whose returns contain accurate details will receive their refunds. Read this article to learn about the situations in which you might experience a delay in receiving your refund.
Why is my IRS tax refund taking so long?
Even when filing electronically, your refund may take longer than 21 days if you have claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit. Please note that for tax year 2025, the earliest EITC and ACTC refunds are expected to be received on March 2, 2026, and this applies only to those who filed earliest.
If you have claimed the ACTC or EITC, you will have to wait a little longer than usual to receive your refund. It is because the Internal Revenue Service is prohibited by the PATH Act, a federal law, from processing any tax return before February 15th of the tax season that claims either or both of these tax credits.
There are other factors that can cause delays in receiving your refund, the biggest of which is not providing your banking details. Following an executive order, the IRS stopped processing paper check refunds, and if you haven’t provided direct deposit information in your tax return, you will not receive your refund until you provide your banking details.
And if there are any mistakes in your tax return or if any documents are missing, you may have to wait longer than usual to receive your refund for the tax year 2025. Also, please note that if your return contains a lot of details, you may have to wait up to a month for your return to be processed and your refund to be issued.
What to do if the IRS tax refund isn’t received as per the timeline?
If you don’t receive your tax refund within the expected timeframe, three weeks for electronic filing and eight weeks for paper filing, the first thing you should do is check your refund status and confirm that your return has been accepted by the IRS.
If your refund is accepted, you will see the date on which your direct deposit will be received from the Internal Revenue Service. If your refund has not yet been accepted, you will need to visit your nearest IRS office to inquire why your refund has not yet been processed.
If your tax return is missing any documents, you will need to provide them. If there are significant errors, you may be asked to file an amended return. In this case, you should first contact a tax advisor before taking any further action.
What if the banking details aren’t on the federal tax return?
If you have intentionally or accidentally failed to provide your banking details on your tax return, there’s no need to worry. You can update this information by logging into your IRS account; there is no other method for providing banking details. Please note that you should never provide your banking details to any IRS officer over the phone.
The Internal Revenue Service has recently updated its frequently asked questions (i.e., FAQs), publicly announcing that if an individual does not provide their banking details, they will receive their refund as a paper check, but they will have to wait approximately six additional weeks.
