Tax Tips

Find Out When Your Tax Refund Will Be Sent

Written by Philip Taylor
Published Mar 15, 2011
2 min read

Once you prepare your taxes and see that you will be receiving a refund, it’s smart to want to get that money as soon as you can. Therefore, a common question during this initial phase of the tax season is “when will I get my refund?” Many people have already filed and they just want to know when the IRS will do their part to process the return and cut a check or make a direct deposit.

Using the 2011 IRS e-file Refund Cycle Chart

To help you estimate when you might expect to receive your tax refund, the IRS has put together a refund cycle chart showing the dates when refund checks and direct deposits should be sent. The chart is only for those filers that filed their returns electronically (e-file). The refund cycle chart includes information for those e-filers who have chosen either direct deposit or paper check as their method of receiving their refund.

To use the chart, simply locate the date range in the far left column that corresponds to the date range in which you filed your taxes. Note that the return should have been transmitted and accepted by 11:00 am (I’m assuming this is Eastern time zone) on the last day of the date range. Then refer to one of the next two columns to determine when your refund will be sent by the IRS.

The first range on the chart says that if your tax return was “transmitted and accepted (by 11:00 am) between… Jan 14 and Jan 20, 2011” your direct deposit should be sent by Jan 28, 2011. Paper check refunds for this same period would be mailed on Feb 4, 2011. Take note that those dates represent when the refund will be “sent” and “mailed”, and not necessarily received by you.

Taking an example from the current week, your return needs to be transmitted and received by 11:00 am on Feb 17, 2011 in order for your refund to be sent by direct deposit on Feb 25, 2011. Better hurry.

Another thing to notice about the chart is that those filers who have selected direct deposit should expect to get there refunds faster. Typically around 7 days faster. That’s a nice incentive to go ahead and provide the IRS your checking or savings account credentials so they can get you the money quicker.

Try Not to Exclusively Rely on the 2011 IRS e-file Refund Cycle Chart

The IRS disclaimer associated with this chart states that the “IRS does not guarantee a specific date that a refund will be deposited…”. Knowing that, I would not exclusively rely on this chart to determine when you might expect to receive your refund. Check out the IRS “Where’s My Refund” site weekly to track your refund.

11 responses to “Find Out When Your Tax Refund Will Be Sent”

cristen dawson says:

January 30, 2014 at 1:55 pm

When will i receive my refund

Reply
reginal joseph says:

June 7, 2013 at 2:01 pm

I never received my state tax money?

Reply
Cindy Strong says:

March 22, 2012 at 7:41 am

I am trying to find out where my refund is at first Turbo tax said 2/28/12 I sent the return on 2/20/12? The IRS states it is processing return but how long will it take?

Reply
john smith01 says:

January 31, 2012 at 1:40 pm

s

Reply
lotoya says:

January 31, 2012 at 8:09 am

im suppose to recieve it on the first of febuary now it says the seventh why is that and when will i recieve it

Reply
- TurboTaxLisa says:
  
  January 31, 2012 at 6:39 pm
  
  Hi Lotoya,
  The IRS is experiencing delays in processing some federal tax refunds due to changes in their systems. As a result, the original estimated federal refund date provided to you by TurboTax or the IRS may have changed. Your state tax refund is not affected.
  
  The most updated information is available through the IRS “Where’s My Refund?” tool, https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp. Make sure to wait 72 hours after your return is accepted by IRS before you check your refund status.
  
  You can read the IRS update on refund status here: http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USIRS-282378?reqfrom=share#.TyHBCA5GIDY.twitter
  
  We understand your tax refund is important to you and we are actively working with IRS to ensure our customers’ refunds are processed as quickly as possible.
  Thank you,
  Lisa Greene-Lewis
  
  Reply
lotoya says:

January 31, 2012 at 8:07 am

why am i recieving 3 different dates that i suppose to recieve my refund my refund was excepted

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Linda says:

January 16, 2012 at 1:54 pm

I filed using (and paying for) your service in 2011. Now, you have no record of my last year’s return. VERY SCARY.

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- TurboTaxLisa says:
  
  January 29, 2012 at 10:24 pm
  
  Hi Linda,
  We are sorry you are experiencing difficulties. We keep all previous tax returns filed with TurboTax Basic, Deluxe, Premier, and Home and Business on our secure servers. If you filed using TurboTax Free product we do not keep it on our servers. In that case you are instructed to save your return as a PDF. You should also save your return as a PDF even if you use a different TurboTax product. Please make sure you are using your prior year log-in information. Also, if you used the free product and did not save a copy, there are steps you can take to obtain a copy. Please see this FAQ for more help http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/iq/Copy-of-Return/Access-2010-or-Earlier-Tax-Returns/GEN12469.html
  Thank you,
  Lisa Lewis
  
  Reply
  - josejujan says:
    
    February 7, 2013 at 2:55 am
    
    my name is jose lujan and i am tryin to find out my tax return and how long would it be
Tim says:

March 26, 2011 at 1:21 pm

I used TurboTax to efile and selected direct deposit for my federal payment option, yet I still received a paper check with a bunch of handling fees. Very disappointed in this, TurboTax! Your support site is of no help. I just called your support phone number after going through some question and answer thing on the site and wasn’t even allowed the option to speak to a living person. Just a recording. May not use this service again.

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