Where's my Refund?

How long will it take to get your refund?

General refund processing times during filing season:

• Electronically filed returns: Up to 4 weeks
• Paper filed returns: Up to 8 weeks
• Returns sent by certified mail: Allow an additional 3 weeks 

The Where’s my Refund application shows where in the process your refund is. When we've finished processing your return, the application will show you the date your refund was sent. All returns are different, and processing times will vary. 

See how our return process works:

What can slow down your refund?

• Your return was selected for additional review. As refund fraud resulting from identify theft has become more widespread, we’re taking extra steps to review all individual income tax returns we receive to be sure refunds go to the rightful owners. Additional safeguards can mean that it takes us longer to process your refund. However, our goal is to stop fraudulent refunds before they’re issued, not to slow down your refund. Learn more about our refund review process and what we're doing to protect taxpayers. 
• Missing information or documents. If we send you a letter requesting more information, please respond quickly so we can continue processing your return.
• Errors on your return. We found a math error in your return or have to make another adjustment. If the adjustment causes a different refund amount than you were expecting, we will send you a letter to explain the adjustment.
• Problems with direct deposit. If you requested direct deposit, but the account number was entered incorrectly, your bank won't be able to process the deposit. When this happens, your bank notifies us, and we will manually re-issue your refund as a check. This process could take up to 2 weeks between the time we receive notification from the bank and when you receive the check.

Tips to help us process your return smoothly.

Why is your refund different than you expected?

Errors or missing information

If your tax return had one or more errors, we may need to adjust your return leading to a different refund amount than you claimed on your return. We will send you a letter explaining the adjustments we made and how they affected your refund. If you have questions about the change, please call Customer Services. 

Tax refund offsets - applying all or part of your refund toward eligible debts

• If you owe Virginia state taxes for any previous tax years, we will withhold all or part of your refund and apply it to your outstanding tax bills. We will send you a letter explaining the specific bills and how much of your refund was applied. If you have questions or think the refund was reduced in error, please contact us.
• If you owe money to Virginia local governments, courts, other state agencies, the IRS, or certain federal government agencies we will withhold all or part of your refund to help pay these debts. We will send you a letter with the name and contact information of the agency making the claim, and the amount of your refund applied to the debt. We do not have any information about these debts. If you think a claim was made in error or have any questions about the debt your refund was applied to, you'll need call the agency that made the claim.  

If you have a remaining refund balance after your debts are paid, we will send a check to the address on your most recent tax return. We cannot issue reduced refunds by direct deposit.

For more details about state and federal offset programs, see Why Was Your Refund Reduced or Withheld (Offset)?

Why did you receive a check when you requested direct deposit?

You will receive a check if: 

• Your refund was reduced because we withheld part of your refund to pay authorized debts as explained above.
• We adjusted your refund amount. We will send you a letter explaining why the refund was adjusted.
• Your bank account information was incorrect or the bank account was closed.
• You provided a routing number for a bank located outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Due to electronic banking rules, we cannot make direct deposits to or through international financial institutions.