{"id":40233,"date":"2026-03-01T18:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/its-been-19-months-for-woman-waiting-on-686-tax-refund-after-dads-death-how-to-speed-up-getting-what-youre-owed\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T18:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:28:11","slug":"its-been-19-months-for-woman-waiting-on-686-tax-refund-after-dads-death-how-to-speed-up-getting-what-youre-owed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/its-been-19-months-for-woman-waiting-on-686-tax-refund-after-dads-death-how-to-speed-up-getting-what-youre-owed\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s been 19 months for woman waiting on $686 tax refund after dad’s death. How to speed up getting what you’re owed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every year, thousands of families not only deal with the death of a loved one, but also with all the accompanying paperwork \u2014 including final tax returns.<\/p>\n
But small mistakes like missing forms or incorrect signatures call stall refunds for months. And for grieving families, this can create unnecessary financial strain at a time when they\u2019re already under profound emotional strain.<\/p>\n
Anne Tergesen, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, recently shared her experience of trying to settle her late father\u2019s estate. It\u2019s all wrapped up except for his 2023 tax refund of $686, which is preventing her from settling his estate. At the time of writing the story, it had been 19 months since she\u2019d filed the return (1).<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch delays are common for people sorting the estates of loved ones,\u201d she wrote. But there are a few ways you can reduce tax-related delays.<\/p>\n
From January 2021 through July 2024, the IRS processed 609,953 manual refunds for deceased taxpayers. It took an average of 444 calendar days to process and issue these refunds, according to a report (2) by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).<\/p>\n
In 440,443 cases where a refund was due, 43% of these were outstanding for one to two years and 9% were outstanding for more than two years (2). For comparison\u2019s sake, electronically filed Form 1040 returns are generally processed within 21 days, according to the IRS (3).<\/p>\n
One of the bottlenecks Tergesen said she experienced, and a common one for other filers, was the processing of the Form 1310 Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re required to file a Form 1310 unless you\u2019re a surviving spouse filing an original or amended joint return with the decedent or you\u2019re a personal representative filing an original Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-NR or 1040-SS for the decedent (which has the court certificate showing your appointment attached).<\/p>\n
Previously, these forms had to be filed in paper format, which required manual processing \u2014 and was a major reason for processing delays. For instance, if an IRS employee requested a Form 1310, the taxpayer\u2019s response would take three weeks, on average, to be routed to the employee once it was received by the IRS, according to the TIGTA report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n