President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging clamp down of federal bureaucracy has now arrived at the Internal Revenue Service—but will it impact the delivery of tax refunds?
Why It Matters
At least one member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team visited the IRS offices in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, according to a report by Reuters. Musk has spearheaded President Trump’s overhaul of federal processes, with layoffs already made at numerous departments.
What To Know
While there is no confirmation that tax refunds could be impacted by the DOGE audit, lawmakers have raised concerns that it could delay owed money to taxpayers. Newsweek has contacted the IRS via email for comment.
“My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden wrote in a Thursday post on X, formerly Twitter. “And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.”
NEW: My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) February 13, 2025
Gavin Kliger, a key member of Elon Musk’s team working to reform the federal government, visited the IRS on Thursday to review its operations, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Kliger met with senior IRS executives, marking the first instance of a representative from DOGE appearing at the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, the sources told Reuters. President Trump has also confirmed that DOGE will be looking at IRS systems.
After DOGE gained access to U.S. Department of Treasury payment systems in recent weeks, a group of House Democrats sent a letter to the acting IRS commissioner, inquiring about the confidential information DOGE had requested from the agency and how many taxpayers’ private data had been accessed.
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When Will My Tax Refund Arrive?
The IRS accepts tax returns from January 27, 2025, with a filing deadline of April 15. If you file your return online and opt for direct deposit, then you can generally expect to receive your refund within 10 to 21 days after the IRS accepts your return, with some exceptions for those claiming certain tax credits. If you opt to mail a paper return, then it usually takes between four to eight weeks to process.
A primary reason for delays in IRS refunds is the submission of incorrect or incomplete tax returns. Small mistakes, such as errors in Social Security numbers, income information, or deductions, can prompt the IRS to conduct a review, resulting in processing holdups.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said on Thursday, February 13: “I think that the Internal Revenue Service will be looked at like everybody else; just about everybody is going to be looked at. They’re [DOGE] doing a hell of a job; it’s an amazing job they’re doing.”
Lisa Gilbert, copresident of Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group, told USA Today: “When Americans interface with the government, there’s a law in place, a privacy law, that is supposed to foreclose people from seeing it or using it for anything but (processing) these payments. And so it’s incredibly problematic to think about an unelected billionaire and his team having access to it, being able to see it or change it.”
What Happens Next
To check the status of a refund, taxpayers should use the Where’s My Refund? tool on IRS.gov.