Taxpayers to Uncle Sam: I need my bloody refund money - RIGHT NOW!!!

[marmar]

'I want my money'
Early tax filers scramble for refunds; most will pay down debt

By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch


CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Cynthia Jeanguenat, a professional tax preparer in Virginia Beach, Va., said she was inundated with clients' tax forms in the second week of February. What jumped out, however, was the large number of the usual clients who had filed earlier than in years past.

"People are creatures of habit and tend to come in at the same time every year," said Jeanguenat, who is an enrolled agent at Horizons Unlimited. "But some of the folks who already are in I don't normally see until the middle or third week of March."

Call it the race for the refund. According to a recent study by BigResearch for the National Retail Federation, Americans who expect to see a chunk of cash back from the U.S. Treasury overwhelmingly -- 71% -- said they already did or had planned to file their 2008 tax returns by the end of February.
And they're increasingly filing their tax returns electronically, another method to speed up the refund process. Nearly 60% of the respondents expecting refunds said they will correspond with the Internal Revenues Service online this year. Of all taxpayers, more than 53% said they are filing electronically.

Online filing can speed refund by up to several weeks, the IRS says. The agency generally allows those who file electronically to begin tracking refunds on its Where's My Refund page 72 hours after filing, but it takes three to four weeks after mailing a paper return for that function to kick in. Check out Where's My Refund. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/early-tax-filers-want-uncle/story.aspx?guid=%7B484E4F76%2D9FB9%2D4D74%2DB2E7%2D240D5D2C046E%7D

[notadmblnd]

1. Most people whose taxes I've done have had their refunds in 7-10 days

That's pretty good turn around time. I've only done one return via snail mail. I'm curious as to how long it will take for her to get her refund. I'm thinking 3-4 weeks. But yeah, out of the 10-20 returns I do for family and friends, more than half file electronically. Makes me wonder why people pay 300-400 using services like H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and Liberty.