IRS Extension Refund Schedule 2025: Direct Deposit and Paper Check Date!

Individuals who file the Form 4868 get the deadline as October 15, 2025, to file the tax year 2025 returns (the documents that show how much you earned, spent, owe, or should get refunded). Those who will e-file the refund on or after April 16, 2025, can also anticipate getting the refund within 21 days.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, 90% of refunds that are electronically filed are received within two weeks if the payment method chosen is a direct deposit; those who file on paper and choose the payout method as a paper check will have to wait 6 to 8 weeks. You may check the expected schedule by going through the tabulated data.

Individuals who will claim the Additional Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit with the tax year 2024 return will also get the refund as per the above schedule; there will be no delay in receiving the direct deposit or paper check.

Refund Status 

The refund status for e-file and on-paper returns is made available on the Where’s My Refund? portal within 24 hours and four weeks, respectively. If the required time has passed since you filed the return, you may check the status to find out that your return has been received, approved, or sent by the IRS.

The complete step-by-step instructions to check the IRS (Federal) Tax Refund for tax year 2024 are available below.

• Go to the official website of the Internal Revenue Service, which is accessible by visiting https://irs.gov/.
• Find an option that reads ‘Get your refund status’ under the section of How can we help you?, and tap on it.
• Now, you will see an option that reads ‘Check your refund.’ Click on it and get redirected to the ‘Where’s My Refund?’ tool.
• Lastly, you have to enter your Social Security Number, Tax Year, Filing Status, and Refund Amount and hit the Submit button.

Once you have gone through the step-by-step instructions above, you will successfully have checked that your tax return is received, accepted, or sent by the IRS.

Refund Stages

There is a web-based tool named ‘Where’s My Refund?’ and a mobile application named ‘IRS2Go’ to track the tax refund. By checking the same, you can check that your refund has been received, accepted, or sent. To learn the meaning of each stage, you are required to go through the listed points.

• Received: The IRS has received your federal tax return for tax year 2024, but they are still reviewing it to accept it.
• Accepted: The IRS has accepted your tax return, but they are yet to release direct debit or send the paper check.
• Send: The IRS has sent the direct deposit or paper check, which will be received shortly.

Following the release of direct deposit, it takes up to 72 hours to be received in the bank account. in the case of a paper check, one has to wait for up to four weeks to get the paper check.

What if delayed?

If the tax refund direct deposit or paper check is not received by the expected date, firstly he or she is required to check the refund status and find out whether the refund is sent by the IRS or not. If the required time has not passed since the release of the direct deposit or paper check, you have to wait for it. 

By checking the federal tax refund status for tax year 2025, if you find that the required time has passed after the release of direct deposit or paper check, you need to get in touch with the concerned authorities of the Internal Revenue Service to know the reason behind it. 

In the case of direct deposit, you receive your refund without any fraud, and if we talk about a paper check, then there is a fear of it getting stolen. So, if you feel that your refund check has been stolen, then it is important to register your complaint regarding it.