There used to be a fast-food commercial where an old lady, with a crusty voice, yells “where’s the beef?!” This year I have been reminded of that commercial many times because it would appear that Oregon is delaying refunds of many people. If you have filed your tax return, were due a refund and have not received your refund then you might be asking yourself “Where’s the refund?!”
Oregon, more than in the past, seems to be moving more tax returns to what they call “manual review”. In most situations we are seeing this happen when the refund is a little larger, over $5,000, or when there is a tax credit or special deduction. In most cases, we have seen that there is a delay but then the return is eventually completed and the refund is issued.
If you were due an Oregon refund and have not received it, the first thing you should do is make sure you know whether you were having the refund issued as a check or as a direct deposit and that you know in which account the direct deposit was supposed to be deposited.
The second thing you should do is go to the Oregon Department of Revenue website and check the status of your refund. You will need your social security number, your filing status (single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household, etc) and you will need to know the exact amount you are supposed to receive as a refund.
https://secure.dor.state.or.us/refund/index.cfm
After entering this information, you will be given a message. If the message says that they have not processed the return, then they simply have not made it to your return yet and you should wait. If the message indicates the return has gone to manual review, then there will be a delay and you, again, need to wait.
It is possible they could ask for more information. This does not mean you are being audited; they just need more information in order to process the return.
Either way, if you get any paperwork from the state or the IRS, forward it to our office and we will help.
The IRS also has a refund status check and the following link will get you there.
https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp
Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.