Why will it take time to receive your US tax refund? 2:28 (CNN Spanish) — This year the tax season in the United States began weeks earlier, on January 24. In other words, as of that date, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is accepting and processing the 2021 tax returns. If you have already filed your taxes and are wondering when the IRS will start sending the refunds this 2022, take note of these keys. According to the IRS, most taxpayers who file an “accurate and smooth” tax return will receive their refund within 21 days of e-filing. A hassle-free filing to avoid processing delays and get your refund as quickly as possible would be to “file electronically with direct deposit if possible” and use the tax agency’s online resources instead of calling, Chuck Retting said, IRS commissioner. Retting warned that submitting it on paper this year would mean “a long delay.” In 2021, they refunded more than $2,800 on average, according to the US tax agency. Pandemic Delays The pandemic and budget constraints may delay refunds and other services to taxpayers this tax season. The IRS may take longer than expected to process tax refunds also due to a backlog of unprocessed cases from last year. The Treasury Department even warned last week of possible delays in the 2021 tax return. According to the report by Taxpayer Advocate Services, an independent entity that is part of the IRS, the pandemic brought various challenges to the agency. Employees working from home began processing millions of dollars as part of the three stimulus packages approved by Congress, as well as sending child tax credits and processing millions of tax returns. “The IRS is in crisis and needs to inject resources into its main mission: to process returns and pay the corresponding refunds. The imbalance between the workload of the IRS and its resources has never been greater,” warned By mid-December, the agency it had not processed 8.6 million individual returns and more than 3 million business returns last year. Just like they had over 5 million unanswered letters from taxpayers. According to the IRS, taxpayers don’t have to wait for their 2020 return to be processed to file their 2021 return. Taxpayers have until April 18 to file, a few days longer than usual due to the April holiday. Emancipation Day in Washington, which falls on April 15. Three keys for foreigners who rent houses in the US 6:18Where’s your refund? If you want to know the status of your refund, you can do it through the IRS site “Where’s my refund?” and the IRS2Go mobile app. In both cases, to access the information about your tax return you must provide: Your social security number or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) Your marital status for tax return purposes The exact amount of your refund You can review the status of your return 24 hours after submitting the return electronically, or 4 weeks if you have submitted it on paper. Isabel Morales contributed to this report