Checking on your refund, late filer edition

I got our tax refund this week.

I say "I" and "our" because the hubby and I live in a community property state. But even when we didn't, I operated on the practical application thesis that since we were married in Texas, we'd be community property partners regardless of our legal tax domicile.

But I digress.

No, this post isn't to blast the IRS for not issuing our refund until November. We got an extension and waited until Oct. 11 to get our return on its way to the agency. Plus it was a paper filing because we had to include some documentation that the IRS doesn't yet digitally accept.

So a turnaround of about four weeks isn't that bad.

And yes, we knew we were getting a refund and we (and by "we," the hubby is quick to point out, I mean "I") still didn't get our 1040 and accompanying forms in earlier.

In my defense, the refund was small. And I was busy. But I digress again.

Finally, this post isn't to confess my slow filing tendencies or to brag about how close our withholding and estimated tax payments came to our actual final IRS bill.

It's to remind other late filers, and we had plenty of company, that if they are still waiting for a tax refund, and we also have some compatriots in this regard, the IRS' Where's My Refund? online tracking tool is still available.

And that's this week's Weekly Tax Tip.

If you have a smartphone, the IRS app IRS2Go will let you track your tax money while you're out and about.

Or you can, of course, call the IRS at 800-829-1954 to find out where in the heck your money is.

Regardless of which tracking tool you use, you need your Social Security number, the filing status you claimed on your refund and the amount of money you're expecting.

Here's hoping you'll soon have some tax cash to be thankful for this Nov. 24, or at least by early December to help out with your holiday shopping.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Tracking down your tax refund
• When's My Refund?
• Taxes? There are apps for that