Taxpayers can now track refunds for past two years

Taxpayers can now track their refunds for the past two years as well as the current tax year, says the IRS.

The IRS recently updated its "Where's My Refund?" online tool to introduce the new feature where taxpayers can select any of the three most recent tax years to check their refund status. They’ll need their Social Security number or ITIN, filing status and expected refund amount from the original filed tax return for the tax year they’re checking.

Previously, "Where’s My Refund?" only displayed the status of the most recently filed tax return within the past two tax years. Information available to those calling the refund hotline will be limited to the 2021 tax return.

Using "Where’s My Refund?", taxpayers can start checking the status of their refund within: 

  • 24 hours after e-filing a tax year 2021 return
  • Three or four days after e-filing a tax year 2019 or 2020 return
  • Four weeks after mailing a return

The IRS is reminding taxpayers that Online Account continues to be the best option for finding their prior year adjusted gross income, balance due or other type of account information.

Electronic filing is open 24/7 and the IRS says it continues to receive returns and issue refunds. Once taxpayers have filed, they can track their refund with "Where's My Refund?" The tool, accessible on IRS.gov or the IRS2Go mobile app, allows taxpayers to track their refund through three stages:

  1. Return received.
  2. Refund approved.
  3. Refund sent.

The tool is updated once a day, usually overnight, and gives taxpayers a projected refund issuance date as soon as it’s approved, says the IRS.

The agency says that there’s no need to call to check on refund status unless it has been more than 21 days since the return was filed or the tool says the IRS can provide more information. If the IRS needs more information to process the return, the taxpayer will be contacted by mail.

For more information about checking the status of a tax refund, taxpayers can go online.