IRS Covid refund 2026: Eligibility, deadline, timeline, and how to find out if the government owes you money

A landmark federal court decision has opened the doors to COVID-era tax refunds for millions of U.S. taxpayers. 

In Kwong v. United States, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims determined that the COVID-19 pandemic effectively paused federal tax deadlines from January 2020 through July 2023, giving taxpayers more time to file and pay their taxes than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had previously recognized. 

The court ruled that the disaster-relief provision in Internal Revenue...