If Check’s in the Mail, IRS Can Tell You

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service, anticipating that as many as 79 million couples and individuals will receive tax refunds this year, said today that it will offer a quick, automated way to determine whether your check is in the mail.

If 10 weeks have passed since the return was filed and you still don’t have a refund, you’ll be able to punch your Social Security number into a telephone and determine whether a check has been processed and when it will be mailed.

The service will be launched on March 15 and will be available to taxpayers in every state, although those who have to call an out-of-town number will have to pay a long-distance charge. Telephone numbers are listed by states in the back of this year’s tax-return instructions.

The new “automated refund information” was announced by IRS Commissioner Roscoe L. Egger Jr., who said the number of individual returns is expected to exceed 100 million this year for the first time in history.