HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Robert Ackley of Huntington is like millions of Americans who file their income tax returns as soon as possible.

He did his the first week it was legally allowed. He should have already gotten his refund, but he's still waiting.

"They said I've have them in 10 days and I still haven't gotten them.
Ackley says. "I'm kind of ticked off. The government says you're getting something, and you're not."

The IRS has alerted tax professionals the one-week delay for some refunds relates to fine tuning IRS systems to adjust for new safeguards. Those safeguards are put in place this tax season to provide stronger protection against refund fraud.

If you paid to have your taxes prepared at a licensed tax preparing agency or if you did them at home, it doesn't matter: the problem is at the IRS level.

"We just got a memo on that this morning," Drema Goolsby says. She helps manage a local Jackson Hewitt tax office. "We have been told from the IRS from day one guidelines to tell customers seven to thirteen days. Now, they've now come back and said that's not happening we're behind we've got issues. Now it's going to be an extra five to seven days."

The delay does not impact everyone. It's only for those early filers who filed their taxes with the IRS between the dates of Jan. 17 and Jan. 24.

To track your refund, you can go to the IRS website. It is: irs.gov.