WASHINGTON –IRS.gov is 9 percent busier this year than last, while the site’s “Where’s My Refund?” feature is 23 percent busier, the Internal Revenue Service reports.
Through March 9, the Web site had received 83.3 million visits this year, 6.9 million more than in the comparable period last year, the agency said. Meanwhile, visits to the site’s Where’s My Refund utility surged to nearly 21 million.
Where’s My Refund? is easy to use,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “It is the fastest way to check on a refund.” Taxpayers can use Where’s My Refund to check the status of their refunds starting seven days after they e-File or four to six weeks after mailing a return, the IRS said.
Nationwide, the IRS said it issued $110 billion in refunds by March 9, 9 percent more than in the year-ago period, even though the number of refunds filed by then rose only 0.8 percent to 61.1 million.
The average refund of $2,548 was $125 or 5.2 percent higher than last year’s $2,423.
But about 30 percent of early filers, many of whom may be eligible, are not requesting this year’s one-time telephone excise tax refund. Even those who are not required to file a return can request the one-time refund by filing Form 1040-EZT, the IRS noted.
Additional information on the IRS site, including usage statistics for this year and last, is available at www.irs.gov/newsroom.
