Want your tax refund ASAP? Here are 5 pitfalls that can delay your check.
CBSN
The typical U.S. tax refund, which averaged $3,200 in 2022, is often the biggest check a household receives all year. And with inflation still high, some measures show that roughly a third of Americans are counting on their 2023 refund checks to make ends meet.
But getting that payment in hand has proved to be elusive for the millions of taxpayers whose returns were caught up in delays at the IRS during the pandemic. Even with IRS accepting tax returns starting Jan. 23, the agency has a backlog of about 10 million returns yet to process.
BISBEE, Ariz. — Boots dusty, lungs heaving, Dr. John Wiens searched the boulders of a desolate Arizona mountaintop for the last survivors of a 3-million-year-old lizard population — then said the words that both confirmed his life's work and broke his heart. The California condor, the largest flying bird in the U.S., with about 90 adults remaining in the wild. The iconic Florida panther, with about 200 animals remaining. The massive North Atlantic right whale, which roams the Atlantic Ocean; all that's left are 250 individuals.