Where's my refund?

February 20, 2013 - Form 8867 Earned Income Credit Checklist (updated)

Early in the filing season the IRS accepted a large number of returns containing Form 8867 (Paid Preparers Earned Income Credit Checklist) even though the Form 8867 contained incomplete information. Refunds related to these returns have not yet been released by the IRS.

In a number of these cases, the IRS has inadvertently mailed the taxpayer a letter, asking the taxpayer to provide the IRS with Form 8867 by fax or mail. The IRS has indicated that these letters were mailed to taxpayers in error, and it is believed that taxpayers DO NOT need to reply to these letters in order to have their refund released by the IRS.

The IRS is working on resolving this problem, and has indicated that refunds which have been delayed by the IRS due to this nationwide problem should be released soon, possibly within the next week.

The IRS has reminded EROs that they should keep a completed copy of Form 8867 for each taxpayer claiming EITC. But, taxpayers or EROs do not need to fax or mail copies of this form to the IRS in order to have their refund released.

More importantly...

We continue to work closely with the IRS on the issues related to Form 8867 with missing information on lines 22 and 23, e-filed before February 8th.  The IRS is working around the clock and making great progress processing returns with Form 8867.  They are working on processing and refunding all impacted returns on a "first in, first out" basis, starting with returns filed on January 30th and then moving on to those filed in early February.

We know that the timing of your clients' refunds is extremely important. Based on the latest information available, the number of these returns being refunded by the IRS will continue to accelerate over the next several days. The IRS has stated that they plan to process all remaining affected returns that were filed between January 30 and February 7^th by the end of this week.