The IRS has confirmed that it will lift the Path ACT refund holds and provide payment status’ on IRS2Go and WMR by February 21st, 2026. Refund payments/release will start around March 2nd, 2026 for PATH held tax returns.
Initial payments will be for taxpayers who have filed electronically and selected a direct deposit payment method for their refund.
Note that there are 2 different event dates to keep in mind with the IRS PATH refund freeze. One is the status update date, and the other is the actual refund payment date.
First, is getting your WMR/IRS2Go refund status, which will update by Feb 21st, or sooner. Some sites (and AI) is saying Feb 16th, but the official IRS guidance is status updates by Feb 21st.
Your actual refund will be paid or direct deposited by March 2nd, unless other IRS issues are flagged. In most cases refund payments will come a few days earlier per the table below. Approval and payments can happen anytime during the week
Refunds will be processed in batches – see cycle code in your transcript to get an idea of your release date – so early filers with no other tax return issues will generally see their payments first.
I will update dates through tax season and you can subscribe to get the latest updates.
| PATH Held Refund Status Updated By | Direct Deposit Payment By |
|---|---|
| By Feb 21 | March 2 |
| By Feb 28 | March 9 |
| By March 7 | March 16 |
| By March 14 | March 23 |
| Will follow estimated IRS schedule |