Where's the Refund?

First-time home buyers who bought as long ago as last winter are still waiting for their $8,000 tax refund.As of mid-September, more than 1.4 million taxpayers had requested the credit by amending their federal tax returns.

The IRS announced in October that it expects 5.1 million claims by year-end. That count doesn’t reflect the extension and expansion of the credit in November.

IRS spokeswoman Carrie Resch says the agency is experiencing a higher-than normal number of amended returns and because amended returns are reviewed by hand, the process is delayed.U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has been fielding constituent calls for weeks from irate home buyers.

She sent a letter to the IRS that said in part: "The full and immediate economic impact of the tax credit is lost when it takes up to four months for people to get the money due to them ... such lengthy delays are unacceptable and erode the public's trust in the competence of the government.”

Source: Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, Kara McGuire (12/10/2009)