Illinoisans 2021 Tax Refunds Might Be Delayed–Here’s Why

I think it's probably safe to point out that no one likes tax season (unless they're in the tax preparation business) because it can be complicated, stressful, and it shows up every year.

Some of the tax time angst goes out the window when you start anticipating your tax refund, but this year's tax refunds might take a while to show up in your mailbox or bank account.

Last Year's Tax Season Was Rough, But Some Experts Are Predicting This Year's Could Be Even Worse

TheConversation.com reports that last year was already the most challenging year taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced. According to the IRS's annual report, taxpayers had trouble reaching the IRS, tax returns took months to process, almost a quarter of refunds didn’t go out until 2022, and collection notices were sent out even after the tax owed was paid.

So, what could possibly make things worse this year than last year?

The Biggest Roadblock To A Quick Refund Is The IRS's Continuing Backlogs And Delays

As CBSNews.com points out, with this tax season now in progress, taxpayers could see a repeat of last year's snarls in processing, when more than 30 million taxpayers had their returns and refunds held up by the IRS.

Treasury Department officials warned in January that this year's tax season will be a challenge with the IRS starting to process returns on January 24. That's largely due to the IRS' sizable backlog of returns from 2021. As of December 31, the agency had 6 million unprocessed individual returns — a significant reduction from a backlog of 30 million in May, but far higher than the 1 million unprocessed returns that is more typical around the start of tax season.

Even though the IRS says that most of us will get our refunds within 21 days of filing, you've got to figure that starting this year's tax season with a backlog in the millions sure isn't going to make things go any more smoothly than they did last year.