Policy

Taxpayers Overwhelm IRS Website

The tax agency was unprepared for actual use of the thing

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The Internal Revenue Service has a message for taxpayers eager to learn the status of their tax refund: Please don't check the IRS website every five minutes — once a day is enough.

The IRS says its "Where's my refund?" website and smartphone app are being overwhelmed by eager taxpayers. The agency says its systems are only updated once a day, usually overnight, and the same information is available the website, the IRS2go smartphone app and IRS toll-free phone lines.