There Is a Delay in Processing Your Tax Return

Our state tax return arrived via direct deposit a little bit ago. I’ve been anxiously awaiting our federal refund because we would break below the $13,000 mark with that money. Unfortunately, our tax refund has been delayed and I don’t know why.

I’m on hold with the IRS right now and my wait time is estimated at 20 minutes. At least they have classical music playing, although it’s a bit too loud. You also have those moments where something sounds different and you think you are being transferred to a representative but it’s only that voice that comes on to let you know that everyone is still busy.

I’ve searched the internet for the code that they gave me to try to find more information as to why our return is delayed. After quite a few misses (mostly from Yahoo answers), I found a great resource that hopefully none of you will need. The IRS has a page that lists all of the reference codes for internet filers. My code is listed, but the status description is greek to me so that’s why I’m on hold right now.

I learned about our refund being delayed this weekend. It put a bit of a damper on things since I did already “spend” the refund in my mind to go towards our debt. I can be impatient at times when it comes to paying off our debt.

This reminds me of another year where our refund was delayed. We were all set to move to where we are now and the move depended on our tax return to be able to pay for somewhere to rent once we got here. Well, the tax return didn’t arrive and it was delayed. There was no way we were delaying our move, so we headed to the bank and practically begged for a $1,000 loan. We did get the loan and ended up moving on time. A few weeks later, we finally received our tax return and turned around and paid the loan.

Comparing that situation makes this delay seem pretty trivial. We are not relying on this money for anything other than an extra payment towards our debt. Instead of being bummed, I should be thankful. I feel better about this already. We may not hit below the $13,000 mark in March, but we’ll hit it in April :)

Posted by Tricia on March 24, 2008 at 8:54 PM in Life Experiences | 23 Comments »
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  1. Natalie responded:
    Posted: March 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    That’s a bummer — we’re definitely looking forward to ours.
    Just think — this year if you had to move, you’d have the wiggle room in your credit cards to charge it and then hurry and pay it off! But even then, now you wouldn’t want to.

  2. lpkitten responded:
    Posted: March 24th, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    That’s so exciting that you are almost set to reach another milestone! Congrats! Isn’t it funny how the less debt you have, the more anxious you are to pay it off? With that kind of motivation you will be debt free in no time!

  3. Lisa responded:
    Posted: March 24th, 2008 at 11:33 pm

    I’m also anxiously awaiting our refund. Should be here by the 5th of April as long as we don’t run into any trouble. So, what did you find out??

  4. twiggers responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 5:45 am

    I hope you got it all straightened!!!! I know how frustrating it can be to have a milestone and then have it delayed!!!!

  5. Tricia responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 6:56 am

    Here’s an update….

    After holding for about 30 minutes, the representative told me that it is normal to see that message and that I should have my refund next week.

    The weird thing is…earlier I saw a message saying I should have the refund this week as long as there are no problems. Then I got the message that the processing of our tax return is delayed and was given a reference code.

    I guess we’ll wait and see.

  6. Joy Smith responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 8:01 am

    I always find that spending money you don’t already have is a really big no-no. Which is quite obvious, yet people still tend to do it!

    I am glad to see that you only spent the money in your mind, instead of out of your pocket!

    I hope the issue with the IRS was solved!

  7. Kenneth Long responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 8:42 am

    The IRS can be frustrating at times. Delayed refunds are something that is outside of your control. One thing that is in your control is keeping more of your refund each pay period.

    It is nice, I know, to get that big check each year. However, you are paying interest on debt while lending the government your money interest-free. Getting more back during the year could help you pay down debt faster.

    If you receive the earned income tax credit (EITC), ask your employer about the Advance EITC that you may be eligible for (Form W5). It could increase each paycheck, while still giving you an annual refund. Just make sure that if you take the Advance EITC, that you cancel it if you or your spouse receives a substantial pay raise.

  8. Jim responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    I’m planning to do my taxes this coming Thursday evening. I crunch the numbers myself first to get a ballpark idea of things, and then see what the tax service does for me. If the numbers are close enough to what I figured, I will probably just do them myself come next year. With whatever tax return there is it will go towards our debt and I hope it gets us down to 10k. A year ago we would have been planning a vacation with my bonus/tax refund.

  9. mick responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    Sounds like the government is just messing with you. Let us know if you do get it next week. Hopefully you aren’t audited.

  10. Emmi responded:
    Posted: March 31st, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    >The weird thing is…earlier I saw a message saying I should have the refund this week as long as there are no problems. Then I got the message that the processing of our tax return is delayed and was given a reference code.

    The government needs to print more money to send you yours. The real problem is the overheating presses.

  11. Ness responded:
    Posted: February 16th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    WOW….I am astonished to see how many others are experiencing the same issue! At the same time I am glad to see I haven’t been singled out. I filed our taxes on 2/3/09 and got a message of acceptance on 2/4/09 saying we should have our refund deposited on 2/13. All was well and on 2/12 I called my bank to check and pending deposits. To my dismay, it said I had none. I then proceeded to check the IRS website and low and behold it says there is a delay in processing my refund and to mention reference number 1201. So, I call the IRS the next day in hopes of getting an exact idea of why our refund is being delayed. HA! What was I thinking! I think they had less of a clue than I did! All that was mentioed was the fact that we owe taxes from a previous year (which we were already aware of) and that the IRS has 3 weeks to process refunds. I would have been totally fine with waiting the 3 weeks if they hadn’t emailed me saying it would be deposited on the 13th. They have it all backwards. Why not just send an email sayking your return has been accepted and when processing is complete you will be notified and THEN send an email with a deposit date? They are getting people’s hopes up and then SEVERELY letting them down. Anywho, the Where’s My Refund page has said there is a delay of our refund for a week now, so I am just hoping it all gets straightened out soon so we get our money!

  12. Tommy responded:
    Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    I filed my taxes on Feb 4,2009 and I checked the status of my return today and I got the 1201 message.. Theses people is a joke!! I owed taxes for 2007 but I broke even,So all I owe is uncle sam a kick in the A**!! Its something really wrong here because there are too many people tax returns being delayed or pushed back..I will call them tomorrow but like everyone else,they will say wait 3 weeks… Im pissed considering they aint wait 3 week to take their cut out of my check….

  13. Amy responded:
    Posted: February 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Same thing happened to me. I filed on 2/5/09 and just checked the status to receive the same message. Hopefully 3 weeks will be all they need. I’m just glad there are others but I agree. They should just tell us the true wait time instead making us anticipate a sooner return. I know a bunch of people who have been overspending in anticipation of this money coming in the mail.

  14. Michelle responded:
    Posted: February 24th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    i am in the same boat. We filed ours the 1st of Feburary. Our expected refund date was the 17th. On the 12th we got the dreaded 2001 code. I knew we owed taxes but I wish they would but the wait time on the site. We are impatiently waiting as we are moving and using the money for the first months rent and can’t move without it and we have to move soon because our crappy landlord let the house we are in now get foreclosed on and the auction date for the house is this week. We are hoping it will be here next week but who knows

  15. Paula responded:
    Posted: February 28th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    I filed my 2008 taxes on 1/12/09 and began checking the status of my refund last week but, no information available. Tried again yesterday… same message. I called 1- 800-829-0582 and after a brief wait on hold I was given Ref.#8001 and told my refund check was mailed on Fri. 2/20/09. Hmmm… haven’t received it yet???… Any body out there know what Ref.# 8001 means?

  16. Michele Fish responded:
    Posted: March 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Yep same here, looked on website the other day and said I should get my refund on the 10th, now I got the goofy 1201 reference and now a delay in my refund. I filed a joint return this year because of my husbands son living with us and we can claim him on our taxes. My husband owes back taxes but he had no income last year and the only income on the tax return was mine, so now its a wait and see game. As usual if you owe money that want it like yesterday but when they owe you money you are on their time.

  17. Darlene responded:
    Posted: March 25th, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    Ah!!! I see more and more people are experiencing the same difficulties I am in receiving my return. I electronically filed my return on the 11th of January with it accepted on the 16th and when I checked the status a week or so later it said it would be deposited to my account on the 24th. Well needless to say the 25th came along and no deposit so I checked the site again and this time it said that they had to change the day to the 24th of February. Well February 13th feeling a little anxious I checked the site again only to read that there was a delay and if I didn’t receive it within 4 weeks to call. I received a letter dated the 16th of February stating there was a delay and if not received in 3 weeks call, Well I waited until last week March 16th to call and was told that they were unsure what the problem was but the woman on the phone (after waiting 38 minutes) was very nice and polite and said she would put in a request, although she had no idea what this was for and simply told me now I shouldn’t call for an additional 45 days. Now when I check the site it states there is a delay if I am to call metion reference 1181. But can you imagine that this is outrageous that it is been just about 3 months since I filed and I still no nothing!!! So good luck to all of us that are patient although not by choice that our returns come soon but if not that we can live without them. :-)

  18. Sarah responded:
    Posted: January 30th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Yep. I got error code 1201 too. Apparently my ex husband owes 116 dollars from 2007. I don’t, but because we are married, I am the one who gets to suffer from it. Was supposed to be deposited to HR block by the 29th, and I supposedly get it on the second. Well, the IRS Where’s my refund still says delay in processing so I am assuming that it isn’t going to make it. The IRS people say : It’s not my department. Great.

  19. Sarah responded:
    Posted: January 30th, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    I should say WERE married, in 2007

  20. Chris responded:
    Posted: February 10th, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    I first saw the message about everything rolling along and today the ‘delay…’ message.

    15 minutes on hold only to be told that ‘yeah, that is strange. we are hearing that alot lately. really increasing our call volume. Dont’ worry, it looks like there is not delay or problem.’

    Which is good but as noted by others, sucks to sit on hold for no reason.

  21. Paula responded:
    Posted: March 23rd, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    I too got this message and when I called they told me can take up to 3 weeks . We havea move coming and were going to use that money for a deposit and rent for a place to live and the truck to move us. Now not sure what we are going to do . Really dont want to lose this place. Please pray for us.

  22. kathy responded:
    Posted: April 22nd, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    I got code 1201 too, just simple return, I use online taxes and efiled on Jan 27, spoke to rep on this the first part of march who said my file was pulled, she didnt know why but then it was released, says everything looked fine and that I should get refund in about 3 weeks, still havent seen anything and mine still says delay in processing – code 1201. I was on hold with irs for half hour.

  23. Terry responded:
    Posted: May 13th, 2011 at 8:15 am

    If your spouce owes a state or federal secured or tax debt before you got married you can file a injured spouce form along with your return then they will take only half of your return this happened to me via a student loan from my wife before we were married they kept my whole return then i sent in this form and a week or so later they sent back half of the return or just simply file married filing seperate that will stop it you might still get half of what you would if filing married filing joint because of a greater tax break

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