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I have received my US tax refund as a check from IRS to my foreign address. I asked my US bank how can I deposit it and, since the amount of the check exceeds my online mobile deposit limit of $10k, they told me that I can mail the check to them and gave me the address I shall use. So i did that -- I sent my check in an envelope (inside another envelope) using DHL with tracking number.

Now, it has been 2 weeks since I mailed it. And for the last 5 days, I see it's being "Held in Customs" on the USPS tracking page. I'm wondering now, whether they won't let it through. Does anyone know what might be the cause of the delay? Will it be returned back if it doesn't pass the customs?

I looked into customs declarations, but these relate to bringing in cash (even in form of checks) into the country. In my case -- the money never left the US. It's the IRS money that should be deposited to my US bank account. By mailing the check, I simply tell my bank to perform the transaction. Unless I'm missing something or week of customs clearance delay is normal in such a case?

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  • Sadly, I don't have an answer for you, but if you're expecting a similar-sized refund for 2024, can you possibly take action before the end of the year so your refund doesn't exceed $10K? As a citizen, I appreciate the interest-free loan to the government, thank you, but that's a pretty big overpayment.
    – Jack
    Commented Aug 10 at 9:37
  • They paid the interest, it’s a 2021 refund.
    – n0t33p
    Commented Aug 10 at 11:46

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I don't think there's a reason to worry just yet. It may be held up for a variety of reasons, almost none of them to have anything to do with you or the content of your package. It can be randomly selected for inspection, it can be stuck in a DHL box that waits to be processed, it can be mis-scanned and delivered already (happens to me with USPS quite frequently), etc. etc.

If customs to refuse to let it through for whatever reason, it will be returned to you. If it is lost - you'll report it to the IRS and ask to reissue.

Ideally, if you expect more refunds and have a US bank account, using direct deposit is the fastest and most secure way to receive them.

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  • thank for this explanation, makes sense to me. the check has arrived today and was deposited by my bank, even though the USPS status says it’s still “In Transit to the next facility “. all in all, it took 18 calendar days for it to arrive
    – n0t33p
    Commented Aug 13 at 14:05

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