Taxpayers Can Check Refund Status Online

The Internal Revenue Service, pushing ahead with a modernization program that eventually will allow taxpayers to file returns directly with the agency online, has launched a Web-based service that allows consumers to check the status of their tax refund over the Internet.

The program, which went live Tuesday on the front page of the IRS consumer site at www.irs.gov, allows those who filed their taxes using a 1040, 1040A or 1040-EZ form to check the status of their refund by typing in their Social Security number and filing status and the amount of the anticipated refund.

The service will respond with information about whether the taxpayer’s return has been processed and when the refund will be mailed or deposited into the taxpayer’s account.

If there is a problem with the return, the computerized service will identify the nature of the problem and suggest steps to solve it, the IRS said.

Taxpayers also can find out through the Web-based prompt whether their check was returned to the IRS as undeliverable. About $90 million in refunds is returned each year because of incorrect addresses, IRS spokesman Anthony Burke said.

The IRS has been providing the same refund information by telephone for more than a dozen years, agency officials said. Taxpayers can call (800) 829-4477 to check refund status.

The IRS believes the Internet-based service is significant because it is the first of several services that will be launched through the same secure Web platform, said John Reece, the IRS’ deputy commissioner of modernization.

The next step will be an electronic filing system, which initially will be accessible to about 6 million people who file 1040EZ forms. That system, which will be launched next year, is expected to enable taxpayers to get refunds in one to three days instead of the four to six weeks it can take under the present system.

Eventually, the agency also hopes to provide Web-based filing directly to taxpayers through their home computers. However, Reece could not estimate when this final stage of the plan would be operational because the agency is concerned that providing this service would run afoul of a government regulation that prohibits the IRS from competing with private tax practitioners.

“This [online refund information service] provides taxpayers with what we hope will be the first of an ever-increasing series of convenient, easy-to-use, service-oriented capabilities,” Reece said. “The more self-service we can make this process, the better it is for everyone.”