“According to the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, the IRS cannot issue these refunds before mid-February. The IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or debit cards starting February 27, 2018, if these taxpayers chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with their tax return.”-IRS
As part of the PATH Act, people filing Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit won’t be getting a refund until the end of February. This is the second year refunds will be held for tax payers that qualify for EITC/ACTC. Last year, EITC/ACTC refunds were issued after February 15, 2017. This year, EITC/ACTC refunds will not be issued before February 27, 2018, that’s almost two weeks more than last year (you might as well say the end of February, which has 28 days).
What’s the point? The IRS have been trying to crack down on fraudulent income taxes. Some taxpayers receive their w2’s early in January, while some others have to wait until the final mailing date if January. Because of that, some people will be able to file their tax return at an earlier date. Holding EITC/ACTC will allow the IRS to make sure that people filing deserve EITC/ACTC. Each year some people have to dispute another taxpayer that may have wrongfully claimed one or more of dependents, parents are notorious for this. Separated parents that have qualifying children, often file a tax return using one or more dependents to get a lager tax refund. This creates a problem when the other parent files a tax return, causing delays for months.
The IRS will not start accepting tax returns until January 29 this year. That does not mean you have to wait until February 27 to submit your tax return with qualifying EITC/ACTC. You can still submit your tax return on January 29 or later, but keep in mind that it will not be refunded until February 27, and that depends on if you have direct deposit and if there are no issues with your tax return.
Image from IRS.gov
