If Your Refund’s Late, the IRS Might Owe You Interest
Generally, if the IRS doesn’t issue your refund within 45 days of the tax deadline, the agency owes you interest.
Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising
partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or
click to take an action on their website. However, this does not influence our
evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and
here's how we make money.
Updated · 2 min read
Written by
Editor & Content Strategist
Co-written by
Content Management Specialist
The IRS imposes plenty of consequences on taxpayers who miss the April tax filing deadline, including late-filing and late-payment penalties. But you get to hold the IRS accountable for missing a deadline, too.
Disclosures: TurboTax Free Edition is for Simple Form 1040 returns only (no schedules except for Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Student Loan Interest). Roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify.
The IRS has a deadline for paying refunds
Most taxpayers receive their refunds within three weeks of e-filing, but it can take longer in some cases, especially if your return wasn’t submitted correctly or there’s a mistake you need to fix.
However, if the IRS doesn’t issue your refund within 45 days of the tax deadline, it owes you interest for each additional day it's late.
For those who file after the deadline, the clock starts on the date you filed, not April 15. But keep in mind that there are limitations: filing two years late and finding out you were owed a refund the whole time doesn’t entitle you to two years of interest.
The IRS should keep you informed of major developments in your refund process and track the interest it owes you if your funds are running late. But if you're curious, there are two major ways you can keep an eye on your refund:
You can track the status of your federal refund about 24 hours after it receives your e-filed return or four weeks after you mail a paper return. The IRS updates the site once a day, and it indicates whether your return was received, approved or sent.
If it has been at least three weeks since you e-filed or more than six weeks since you mailed your paper return, you can check on your refund by calling the IRS. According to the IRS, call wait times average around three minutes during the tax filing season and 11 minutes during the offseason.
Taxpayers who think they’ve been shorted on interest can call the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service at 877-777-4778 or visit a local IRS office.
How much interest does the IRS pay on a delayed refund?
If you haven't received your refund within 45 days of the tax deadline, the IRS pays interest on your outstanding funds at the prevailing overpayment rate, with interest compounding daily.
For the third quarter of 2025 (July through September), the interest rate for overpayments is 7%, which is relatively high compared with previous years. This rate can change quarterly, so check the IRS website for the latest update
.
Keep in mind that any interest you cash in from a delayed refund comes with some fine print: you’ll need to report it as taxable income on your return the following year, no matter the amount. If you received more than $10, you'll also get a 1099-INT from the IRS, which can help with that paperwork.
Disclosures: TurboTax Free Edition is for Simple Form 1040 returns only (no schedules except for Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Student Loan Interest). Roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify.
Refund theft can complicate interest payments
If you discover a criminal has filed a fraudulent return in the hopes of stealing your refund — a growing concern for many taxpayers as IRS scams increase — you should alert the IRS right away. But note that those investigations typically take about four months, and it’s unclear whether a refund due to a victim of identity theft accrues interest if it’s delayed.
A version of this article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by USA Today.
Article sources Article sources
NerdWallet writers are subject matter authorities who use primary,
trustworthy sources to inform their work, including peer-reviewed
studies, government websites, academic research and interviews with
industry experts. All content is fact-checked for accuracy,
timeliness and relevance. You can learn more about NerdWallet's
high standards for journalism by reading our
editorial guidelines.