IRS warns that claiming two tax credits could delay refunds

Quartz · Natalia Lebedinskaia

Chris Morris

Thu, February 12, 2026 at 10:42 PM GMT+9 2 min read

Filing season is underway at the IRS, but people who are hoping to get a quick refund this year might end up waiting longer than they expected.

The IRS is reminding taxpayers that if their 2025 tax return claims either the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit, it could be subject to delays. That’s because of a provision that prevents the IRS from issuing any refunds tied to those claims until after mid-February, no matter when you file your taxes.

That means you shouldn’t expect to see your refund until March 2 at the earliest.

Both of those deductions are sizable. The Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC) gives taxpayers without children as much as $649 and more than $8,000 for those who have three or more children. (Income and other factors determine the exact amount.)  The Additional Child Tax Credit, meanwhile, can boost refunds by as much as $1,700 per child.

Typically, it takes 21 days from the time you file your taxes electronically before you see a refund. These delays could bump that to 36 days in some cases. To track the status of your refund, the best method is via the IRS’s Where’s My Refund tool.

Keep in mind you won’t have the option to receive your refund via a paper check any more. The move to electronic payments was part of an executive order signed by Donald Trump in March. It was designed to save the government money and reduce fraud. Checks cost roughly 50 cents to issue, while electronic payments work out to just 15 cents.

Two out of every 10 taxpayers get their refunds via check, according to the IRS. Many of those people do not have bank accounts, often because they are homeless, disabled or uncomfortable with sharing their bank information with the government.

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