Tax filing season officially starts today, Jan. 24. For those waiting to get their refunds, there may be major delays as the IRS struggles with backlogs and limited staff because of the pandemic.

Although refunds are usually issued within 21 days, many filers had to wait longer last year, and the IRS has yet to process millions of individual returns as of the end of December.

The director of tax services at Parsec Financial, Larry Harris, said the delays are alarming. However, Harris said that there are ways to ensure that people get their money faster.

While electronic filing with direct deposit is always a good idea, tax professionals suggest that there are a few more things you can do to speed up your 2021 refund.

Experts suggest that double-checking your return is one of the simplest methods to avoid refund delays. Half of the issues stem from taxpayers failing to provide accurate information. The IRS is struggling, and it would be a good idea not to make matters worse by making mistakes.

According to the IRS, the backlog of processing returns includes issues that require manual review, such as many stimulus check errors, and the agency is correcting more errors now than in past years.

Another factor that could delay your tax refund is being identified for identity theft. According to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, the IRS tagged 5.2 million returns for fraud in 2020, with 1.9 million being stopped for identification screening.

If the IRS detects fraud, it will send Letter 5071C or 6331C, which will put a hold on the return until the IRS receives a response. If the letter arrives at the wrong address, the procedure could take even longer.

Those that receive the letter can contact the IRS directly or by visiting a local IRS office. However, getting in touch with the IRS may be difficult. According to Treasury officials, there was fewer than 15,000 personnel to handle the 240 million incoming calls during the first half of 2021 – one person for every 16,000 calls. This means that callers may have to wait to get to a representative.

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