How many tax refunds did the IRS issue in July? What's the timeline to receive it?
An eleven percent increase in return tax returns filed in 2021, has left millions waiting for their refund from the IRS. Who can expect theirs in July?
As of 11 June, the IRS had processed over 141 million tax returns.
This figure represents a twelve percent increase over 2020 levels.
Much of this increase is driven by the IRS’ campaign to get more people to file a return as they may be eligible for various benefits from the federal government. These benefits included the enhanced Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and federal stimulus checks.
Since June the IRS has not published data on how many returns have been processed.
However, the tax authority did put out a press releasing on 14 July saying that they “will issue another round of refunds this week to nearly 4 million taxpayers who overpaid their taxes on unemployment compensation received last year”
Many of these filers submitted their tax return before the passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) in March. The ARP allowed those who had received unemployment benefits to subtract $10,200 from their income, so long as their annual income was under $150,000.
When will these refunds be sent?
In May, the IRS had announced that they had identified 10 million taxpayers who may be eligible for an adjusted refund because of the changes made to unemployment.
In the July press release, the organization stated that they sent refunds through direct deposit on 14 July and began sending paper checks on the 16th. This is the second batch of payments sent, bringing the total number of corrected refunds to about 6.2 million.
The agency will continue sending these refunds throughout the summer so do not worry if you have yet to see yours. However, there are few groups that may need to submit a corrected tax return to receive their updated refund.
Who should file an amended return?
According to the IRS, those who should consider filing an amendment include, people who have “already filed a tax return and did not claim the unemployment exclusion.” Additionally, taxpayers whose adjustment impacts their eligibility for certain tax credits.
This also applies to people who did not claim some credits because their unemployment benefits pushed them over the eligibility limit including the Recovery Rebate Credit, Earned Income Credit with no qualifying dependents or the Advance Premium Tax Credit.
Once you have submitted the updated refund, the IRS will generally notify you “within 30 days of the adjustment, informing them of what kind of adjustment was made."