If you are expecting to be refunded money owed to you, you need to know when you can expect to receive it.
Disruptions to the receipt of money due can be very problematic because outgoings don’t stop just because incoming money is delayed.
And if you don’t know when the money is due to arrive, it is hard to know whether you need to dip into your savings to cover costs.
New York state may be considered one of the richest parts of the country, but to be honest many New Yorkers are living just within their means, which means any delay in New York state tax funds could have a crippling, cascading effect for some.
In this article, we’re going to discuss whether or not New York state tax refunds are delayed, how long the refunds are taking to process, and what to do if your refund is delayed.
Please feel free to scroll ahead to any section that jumps out at you. Here goes.
Contents
Are New York State Tax Refunds Delayed?
Normally, it takes up to three weeks to process refunds for e-filed state returns and up to six weeks for mailed returns.
However, it has come to our attention that the NYS Taxation and Finance office has been sending letters to taxpayers stating the following:
“After reviewing your return, we’re unable to verify the amounts you claimed as itemized deductions on your return.
We’ve re-computed your return using the allowable standard deduction. You should receive an adjusted refund in approximately 60 days.”
And if you think 2 months sounds like a long time to have to wait, wait until you hear the rest.
If you decide that you don’t agree with their decision, you can submit all of your documentation as evidence, and then you will need to wait an additional 3 months before you can receive your refund.
So, what this means is that while as a whole New York State tax refunds are not delayed, you may still bump into issues as the tax forms are processed.
And if you do not agree with the NYS Taxation and Finance office decision, you can expect to wait up to a whopping 5 months for the matter to be resolved and to receive any money rightfully due to you.
How You Can Check Your NYS Tax Refund Status Online
Thankfully, however, if you’re concerned that your tax refund is taking longer to process than it ought to, you can easily check the status of your NYS tax refund at any time online.
All you have to do is click on this link to NYS’s security check and fill in your Social Security number.
You will then be presented with a drop-down box listing the different forms, and select the one you used.
Then all you have to do is enter the amount of tax refund that you requested, and the status of your tax refund will be displayed.
If you can’t remember exactly how much you requested, check out this link with a handy little table to locate the amount.
The link provided will also tell you what to do if the information you enter does not match, and provides some troubleshooting.
However, it’s important to note at this point that this is not the correct procedure for checking the refund status for an amended tax return.
If you want to check the status of an amended tax return, you need to call the NYS Taxation and Finance office directly on the following number: 518-457-5149.
This is an automated refund-status line.
Additional Information About New York State Income Tax Refunds
The NYS Taxation and Finance has a webpage dedicated to understanding your tax refund status, which can be accessed on this link.
It answers all your most commonly asked questions on the subject.
In particular, there’s an FAQ titled “Why can’t you tell me when I will receive my refund?” to which their response is “Each return is different” followed by an explanation into why some claims may take longer than others.
For example, a simple tax return will be processed more quickly, they say, whereas where fraud may be suspected, this may hold things up until everything is properly checked.
If you find that this particular webpage isn’t sufficiently helpful, you may wish to check out the one available on this link, which gives more information on New York State income tax refunds.
Why Might A Refund Be Under Review?
Sometimes a tax return can take longer to review because additional information is needed and requested, or manual verification is needed, or there may simply be some mathematical corrections to go over, or they may have been a typo or two.
Just because a refund is under review does not necessarily mean that the state suspects fraud.
How To Cope When Your Tax Refund Has Been Delayed
If your tax refund is delayed for whatever reason, try not to panic.
Look at how much money you have coming in, and assign certain amounts to the most essential bills.
Specifically, you should aim to cover housing, child care, utilities, and transport to work if applicable.
Check what quarterly bills you may have coming up, and start putting money aside with every paycheck so that when the bill turns up, the money is there, ready.
If there are some bills that you don’t think you’ll be able to pay on time, ring up the customer service department and explain. Most companies will allow you to defer payment.
Wrap Up
So, to recap, although the NYS Taxation and Finance office is not seeing generic delays across the board, you could potentially see a long delay before getting your full tax refund if you disagree with the state’s decision and request to have your documentation looked at to verify your request.
Checking the status of your NYS tax refund is quick and easy. All you need is your Social Security number, and you can check the status online at any time, using this link.
