How to Check Your Tax Refund Status

If Uncle Sam owes you a refund, then you’re probably wondering how you can check on the status of these funds.  

We have three ways you can follow your federal tax refund’s status:

The IRS’s web tool

You can use the IRS’ “Where’s My Refund?” web tool to see if your return’s been received, if your refund’s been approved and if your refund’s been sent.

Updated daily, the IRS says “Where’s My Refund?” has the most up-to-date information about your taxes, and allows you to start tracking your returns beginning 24 hours after the IRS has received your e-filed return and about four weeks after mailing in your paper return. 

Have this information on hand to use “Where’s My Refund?”:

• Your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
• Your filing status (i.e., single, married and filing a joint return, married and filing a separate return, head of household) 
• Your exact refund amount (it’s important to provide the exact whole dollar amount so you get an accurate response) 
• Or call 800-829-1954 anytime to access the audio version of the tool

If you claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), your review timeline will be a little different

The IRS can’t issue refunds for returns with these credits before mid-February, so Where’s My Refund? or any tax software you may use won’t have refund information until at least February 23, 2019 for most of the early EITC and ACTC filers.

IRS2Go App

 Want to check your tax refund status while on the go? The IRS has the “IRS2Go” mobile app. It’s free and you download it through Google Play, the Apple App Store, or the Amazon Appstore for Android.  

Just like “Where’s My Refund?,” you can use the app to check your refund’s status 24 hours after the IRS has received your e-filed return or about four weeks after mailing in your paper return.