Where's My Refund?

Early October, the IRS rumor mill struck into full rotation as speculations began to spiral about expected delays in Income Tax Returns in 2015. To be honest, I had not even heard such a thing until a friend of mine brought it to my attention, just yesterday. I have to admit, I hadn’t given it much credence, since I had not heard even the slightest whisper about it but of course I figured that it would be worth checking out. My first line of defense was to take to “Google” (it’s the new American way) and see what kind of information was in circulation. Several finance blogs/columns were reporting that IRS tax refunds will be delayed until October 2015. The stories they told were pretty consistent, and given the IRS’s recent history of (minor) delays, quite believable. Now, combine that with the latest news confirming that 50 “Tax extenders” expired at the close of 2013 in conjunction with the simple fact that our country is BROKE and….. Whalaa, the perfect recipe for Terror among Taxpayers.

Kelly Phillips Erb, of Forbes ,does a superb job of succinctly separating fact from fiction. She points out that the timing of the release of the news regarding the expired tax extenders makes the story all the more realistic.

Fact- Roughly 50 tax extenders expired at the end of 2013, which have the potential to delay the tax filing season, if Congress does not renew these extenders soon.

Fiction- Although there is potential for a slight delay there has not be any official announcement that income tax returns would be pushed to October of 2015.

Just because there has not been a formal statement made, does not necessarily mean that there is no truth to these allegations. What it does mean is that this claim is all a big “IF.” As we hear more we’ll be sure to update you all on the matter. For now I wouldn’t worry too much!