The IRS has increased the interest rate for delayed tax refunds for 2022 from 3% to 4%. This apparently went into effect on April 1st, but I just read about it in media reports today.
The IRS pays out interest if they delay your tax refund by more than 45 days. For the standard tax return which is due on April 15th, this means they’ll pay interest for refunds issued on June 1st or beyond. Even if you file early they’ll still only pay based on the due date which is typically April 15th.
(If you overpay your tax estimates, it can be even a year or more until the interest rate starts kicking in, but if you overpay in April toward the prior year’s taxes, the interest rate kicks in less than 2 months. If you file an extension, you won’t get interest until after your tax return is actually filed.)
Some people like paying taxes via credit card to rack up spend, and some even purposefully overpay to that end. If the IRS take a while to process the refund you should get a nice 4% interest on any overpayment. You’ll get a form 1099INT for any interest earned.
Do note, there have been times/years/payments which the understaffed IRS has been very late with refunds, so don’t overpay what you can’t afford to float. In any case, you should be getting a nice interest rate on the late refund which makes it palatable.
