Here’s When You Can Expect Your IRS Tax Refund and How You Can Track It

The 2025 tax return filing season began on Jan. 27, so it’s only natural that people are thinking about potential refunds. An update from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shared that by Jan. 31, the agency already received more than 13 million returns, and had issued over 3 million refunds.

A tax refund is a reimbursement to taxpayers who have overpaid their income taxes, and so the government sends the money back.

If taxpayers receive a large refund, they may well be having too much withheld from their paychecks by employers. The employment form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, provides your employer with the information needed to federal income tax withholding, which impacts your federal tax refund. If the tax refund is too large or too small, taxpayers can adjust the taxes they pay for the next year using the IRS’ “Tax Withholding Estimator” tool. Per the IRS, you have three years to claim a tax refund.

According to filing season statistics reported by the IRS, the average tax refund in the 2024 tax season—for tax year 2023—was $3,138. Almost 105 million tax refunds were processed by the end of December, totaling more than $329 billion.

Read More: What Is the Average Tax Refund?

Here’s everything you need to know about when to expect your IRS tax refund and how you can track it.

According to the IRS, a refund usually takes up to 21 days if the tax returns was filed online, though it may take longer to process if the return needs corrections or review. If the tax return was sent by mail, the refund could take 4 weeks or more.

Taxpayers can also set up a direct deposit to receive their tax refund payments directly into their bank accounts. 

The Bureau of Fiscal Service also has a Frequently Asked Questions page about tax refunds on its website, where taxpayers can learn more about the process of receiving their tax refunds and best practices to follow.

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The IRS allows taxpayers to track their returns with their “Where’s My Refund?” tool online.

For those without Internet, or people who prefer to use the telephone, the IRS also has a help hotline where users can call to track their refunds:  800-829-1954. If you filed an amended return, meaning you found a mistake and had to re-file your taxes, the hotline is  866-464-2050.

By providing a social security number, the tax filing status, and the exact refund amount on the return, taxpayers should be able to view the status of their refund. 

There are three status updates which the taxpayer might see: “received return,” “refund approved,” or “refund sent.” If the refund has been sent, it could be up to 5 days before the money shows up in your bank account or a few weeks before your check has been received.