India, Jan. 27 -- It is officially the season of asking, "Where is my IRS refund?" with the 2026 U.S. tax filing season underway. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), most refunds for electronically filed returns with direct deposit are typically issued within about 21 days of acceptance.

The IRS provides a dedicated tool called "Where's My Refund?" on IRS.gov. On the tool, data is updated overnight once a day. These updates are usually made between 4 and 5 a.m. Eastern time. The tool "Where's My Refund" is inaccessible at those times every morning.

Here's how the tool works:

You will need 3 things to check the refund status on "Where's my Refund":

Once you have entered your details on the tool, you will either see "Return...