Methods systems and computer program products for estimating when taxpayer will receive tax refund

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying one or more instructions executable by a computer to perform a process for estimating when a taxpayer will receive a tax refund, the process comprising electronically filing an electronic tax return of the taxpayer with a tax authority, the electronic tax return being generated by a tax preparation application and indicating that the taxpayer will receive a refund from the tax authority;

• receiving first and second data of respective different first and second types, the first data indicating respective times between filing respective prior year tax returns and when respective taxpayers received their respective prior year tax refunds, and the second data indicating respective times between filing respective current year tax returns and when respective taxpayers received their respective current year tax refunds;
• the computer determining respective prior year wait times to receive respective prior year tax refunds and current year wait times to receive respective current year tax refunds based on the first and second data;
• assigning a weighting function to the first data and the second data, the weighting function reflecting reliability or accuracy of the first and second data or sources of the first and second data;
• and generating an estimate of when the taxpayer will receive the refund based at least in part upon the weighting function and the first and second data.