The Federal tax refunds are running behind

Tax refunds are supposed to be coming soon, and everybody obviously enjoys those wonderful little checks. However, this tax season isn’t going as planned since the amount of tax refunds is lagging.

The IRS isn’t exactly showcasing any numbers on how many federal tax refunds have been issued so far this tax season, but we know that refunds have gotten off to a bumpy start so far.

The stars simply aligned perfectly for a lag in federal tax refunds. There was a late launch to the start of the filing season, as it started on January 30, which is 8 days off of the normal start date. This happened because of a last minute, fiscal cliff tax change that got the green light by Congress. There was also the inability of taxpayers to file for credits until early March, in addition to the time-consuming analysis of tax returns. This was due to the IRS trying to improve on their efforts to filter out identity theft and tax refund fraud.

Even big companies like Wal-Mart are feeling the late start to the tax refunds. This time last year, Wal-Mart cashed out about $3 billion worth of checks that were related to tax refunds. Currently, that amount is just $1.7 billion.

Tax professionals have noticed many disappointed tax filers who can’t file their taxes yet or whose refunds are taking longer than usual to arrive. The process of the tax refunds is picking up a bit, but it still isn’t back to normal.