The 2025 tax season officially opened on January 27, with the Internal Revenue Service anticipating the processing of approximately 138 million individual tax returns. Of that number, approximately 62% were projected to result in a tax refund for the taxpayer.
Despite an electronic filing rate reaching 95%, more than 13 million returns were flagged for further review by the IRS’s verification system. These suspensions in routine processing are the primary factor leading to a specific group of taxpayers not receiving their refunds in September.
Profiles of taxpayers with refunds in September
One group is made up of taxpayers who filed their returns close to the April deadline or who used an extension of time to file. The original deadline for filing the 2024 income tax return was April 15, 2025. Those who requested an automatic extension were given until October 15, 2025, to file.
A taxpayer who submitted their completed return in July or August, particularly if it was by mail, could experience a processing time of six to eight weeks, which would put the receipt of their refund right around September.
The Form 1040-X: getting you refund right
Another profile concerns taxpayers who filed an amended return using Form 1040-X. This form is used to correct errors or add information omitted from an original return already filed.
The IRS indicates that these amendments can take up to 16 weeks to process, plus approximately three more weeks for issuance and delivery of payment. An amended return submitted in June 2025, therefore, may not be fully resolved until well into September.
Identity theft and tax fraud cases are a priority category that often result in lengthy delays. During the 2025 tax season, the IRS identified and flagged approximately 2.1 million returns as potentially fraudulent. These returns undergo a rigorous identity verification process to protect legitimate taxpayers and government funds.
This validation process, which can involve mailing letters and waiting for a response, extends processing time by several months, often being resolved in the final months of the fiscal year.
The things that cause tax refunds’ delays
Choosing to file a paper return instead of an electronic one introduces a substantial processing delay. While a smooth electronic return is typically processed within 21 days, a paper return requires a manual entry and verification process that can take between four and eight weeks.
A paper return submitted in August, therefore, has a high probability of being processed and generating a refund during the month of September.
Errors in the return are a common cause of delays:
Omissions such as an incorrect Social Security number, a misspelled name, erroneous arithmetic calculations, or a missing signature force the system to divert the return for manual review. This additional correction and verification process consumes valuable time, delaying the estimated refund issuance date.
Any discrepancy between the income reported by the taxpayer and that reported on Forms W-2 or 1099 by employers and institutions also triggers verification measures.
Claiming certain refundable tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), comes with automatic delays mandated by law. As a fraud prevention measure, the IRS is required by law to hold full refunds that include these credits until mid-February. If other complications or errors arise on a return that already contains these credits, the initial delay can easily be amplified, pushing the final payment date into the fall.
Your bank could be the problem
Problems with bank information cause additional delays even after the IRS has approved the refund. If the direct deposit account number provided is incorrect, outdated, or belongs to a closed account, the electronic transfer will be rejected.
In this scenario, the IRS must cancel the direct deposit instruction and proceed to issue a physical check by mail to the taxpayer’s address on file. This voiding and reissuing process adds between one and two weeks to the total wait time.
