# Free money delay



## iota2014 (Jul 30, 2015)

> The Internal Revenue Service is warning tax professionals that next year, a new law will require the IRS to hold all Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit refunds until Feb. 15 as a safeguard against identity theft and tax fraud.
> 
> The IRS pointed out the new law is likely to affect some returns submitted early in the tax filing season. The IRS is encouraging tax professionals to begin preparing for the change now. Planning is also underway for a wider communication effort this summer and fall to alert taxpayers.
> 
> ...


IRS to Delay Tax Refunds Involving EITC and ACTC Next Year | Accounting Today News


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

This change affects practically nobody who is genuinely eligible for these refundable tax credits. E-filing doesn't open until mid-January anyway (this year it was January 19th), and the IRS doesn't touch paper returns until late January. Most employers don't issue W-2s (wage statements) until late January, and non-U.S. residents often/typically get final foreign wage statements even later.

I can't ever remember filing a tax return in January, although one year I managed to get a FinCEN Form 114 filed in January. I've never met anybody who is that fast. Has anyone else?


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## iota2014 (Jul 30, 2015)

BBCWatcher said:


> This change affects practically nobody who is genuinely eligible for these refundable tax credits. E-filing doesn't open until mid-January anyway (this year it was January 19th), and the IRS doesn't touch paper returns until late January.


I should think the genuinely-eligible might well be among the earliest filers.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I would have to say that most non-US-resident taxpayers with salary income that I know just use their end of the year payslip to file their US taxes, so they have all the information by 31 December. It depends, I suppose, if your payslip includes Y-T-D totals, but they do so in both France and Germany. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## JustLurking (Mar 25, 2015)

Meh, it could be worse.

...and in fact it is, for non-resident aliens who are unlucky enough to receive Form 1042s -- the NRA equivalent to a 1099 -- from a US financial institution:

Nonresident Aliens Filing Form 1040-NR for Refund of U.S. Source Income Withheld


> If you requested a refund of tax withheld on a Form 1042-S Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding by filing a Form 1040NR U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, we will need additional time to process the return. *Please allow up to 6 months from the original due date of the 1040NR return or the date you actually filed the 1040NR, whichever is later to receive any refund due.* [Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 01-Dec-2015]


Emphasis here is mine. (The sloppy punctuation is the IRS's.)


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

In Singapore we don't usually get IR8As (employment income statement) until the end of February, and you have to wait for those since they include income that at least isn't obvious from payslips. If you don't get a foreign annual statement OK, so be it, but if you do then I'd wait for it. Sometimes U.S. reportable income shows up on the annual statement but doesn't show up on the payslips.

Domestically filers who want an advance on their refunds can still get them through H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, and the like. The tax preparation firm charges something to float the refund, but a lot of people still want to do that. They still can.


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