The refund delay is getting worse. The Internal Revenue Service is holding 29 million tax returns for manual processing, contributing to more refund delays than are typical in a normal filing season due to sweeping tax code changes, limited resources, outdated IT systems, and a backlog of over 8 million unprocessed 2019 paper tax returns. Typically, the IRS sends most refunds within 21 days or less of taxpayers filing their return. But for some early filers, the wait for a tax refund has been six weeks to eight weeks already.


