The IRS 2025 tax season deadline is just a few days away. The taxpayers who have yet to file the 2024 tax year return should file the return immediately, or if they need more time, they can file for an extension. The IRS has many tools available that can help you with last-minute filing.
Taxpayers are advised to use them and file and pay their taxes before 15 April 2025. Taxpayers who are filing their tax returns near the deadline can expect some delay in their tax refunds. With the recent IRS employee cuts under the Trump Administration, taxpayers can expect more time than normal for tax processing.
The agency typically processes the IRS tax refund within 3 weeks of the e-filed tax return with direct deposit and more than four weeks for the paper returns. The tax refund of the taxpayers can be delayed for other reasons as well, which we will discuss later.
| IRS Tax Deadline | 15 April 2025 |
| Filing Extension deadline | 15 April 2025 |
| Tax Deadline for Disaster-Affected States | 01 May 2025 |
| Tax Refund | May take more time due to rush hours or the IRS employee cut |
| Tax Refund Status | Where’s My Refund |
| Direct Deposit Tax Refund | Within 21 days of filing |
| Paper Check Tax refund | A month or several weeks from filing |
| Official Website | https://www.irs.gov/ |
When can you expect?
Taxpayers who filed their tax returns early have received their tax refund. According to the latest data shared by the IRS, the agency has processed around 88,527,000 returns till 28 March 2025 and refunded around $195.180 million. The average refund amount processed till now is $3170, which is 3.9% higher than last year’s tax refund during the same time.
The IRS claims that during the deadline, taxpayers may expect delays in tax refunds due to a rush near the deadline. So, taxpayers can expect a few more additional days than the general days when you receive your tax refund.
Taxpayers who have yet to file the tax returns should go for the electronic filing method with direct deposit to ensure they don’t have to wait for more than a month to receive their tax refund. According to the IRS guidelines, taxpayers can track their tax refund status and estimate their refund payout date.
What causes the delay?
According to the IRS, the following typical reasons may cause a delay to your IRS Tax refund; hence, you should understand them clearly to avoid these mistakes:
- Your tax information or documents are incomplete or missing, which could lead the IRS to take more time to review the tax return, or they may have to notify you for more information; until then, your tax return process will stop.
- Your bank account for direct deposit is invalid or not active, which can affect your tax refund processing because if the bank account is invalid, the refund will be back to the agency. After that, the agency will send the tax refund through mail to your current mailing address.
- If you entered the incorrect mailing address on the tax return and selected the physical check for the tax refund, you can lose your tax refund check.
- If you have tax debt, the agency may use your tax refund to cover the debt, however, they will first notify you about using your refund.
How to track?
If you have filed the tax return lately, you can track your tax refund through the IRS Where’s My Refund tool easily and find the status of your tax refund processing. Where’s My Refund tool is one of the easy-to-use tools that tells the taxpayers the same status recorded in the IRS system.
This way, taxpayers can get the refund status in no time without any issue. Taxpayers would need only their Social Security Number/ Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), refund amount (you filed in the tax return), tax year, and your filing status to check the refund status.
With the tool, taxpayers can get the status in three stages: Return Received, Refund Approved, and Refund Sent. If the status says that your Refund is sent, you may expect the refund in five days in your bank account or several weeks if you have selected the physical check.
Tools Available on IRS
Taxpayers filing tax returns last minute before the deadline, 15 April 2025, can use the following tools for free to ensure they file the tax return accurately and receive the tax refund without any error:
- You can use the Interactive Tax Assistant to answer your tax law questions and get the basic tax information.
- You can use the IRS online account to get your tax information, payment history, owed balance, and others.
- You can use the Get Transcript tool to download your tax transcripts after the agency has processed the return for the filing tax return with ease and have the information about your filed taxes.
- You can use the Direct Pay tool to pay your taxes directly through your savings accounts without any charges or registration.
- Taxpayers with withheld taxes should use the Tax Withholding Estimator to see how much they have paid and what they owe to the agency.
- If you are an elderly person and need help in filing the tax return, you can access the VITA and Tax counseling programs.
Taxpayers should file taxes on time before the tax day, except the people from disaster-affected 12 US states who can file their taxes till 01 May 2025.
Taxpayers have only a few days left to file their tax returns for the 2024 tax year, or a six-month extension, they should ensure they file their taxes on time to receive the refund. People who are going for the tax extension should pay their taxes before the deadline to avoid any consequences.