Still haven't received federal refund.
It is December, now, and I still haven't received my federal refund from my taxes filed in April. I have received multiple letters which simply say that my return is still under review and that it could take up to 60 days. (It's been 8 months.) When I visit the "where is my return" page of the IRS website, it gives me the same, vague, "we're still reviewing your return" message.
Looking for advice on what might be going on over there and what I can do. Thanks.
Best Answers
-
Hello,
The pandemic caused all sorts of problems for the IRS (at one point, they stopped processing papers returns at all for a few months). If a return needs further review, nowadays, it is often taking months for them to finish reviewing and processing the return as they are backlogged.
Right now, there isn't much to do other than wait for them to finish processing your return.
-
You should obtain a copy of your IRS transcript (you can do that via an account at irs.gov.) It might show what's causing the holdup. The usual suspects are identity issues, duplicate dependents, very large refunds, credits (child tax credit, earned income credit, etc.) Was there anything unusual about your 2022 tax return?
-
Look at your tax transcript on irs.gov. Is there a 810 Freeze code?
-
Yes, it at least sounds like there is movement and you will hopefully receive your refund within the next few weeks. The "776 Interest Credited to Your Account" likely means that the IRS will be paying you interest for having your refund money beyond the April 15th filing deadline.
Answers
-
Eight months? Has anyone else experienced this long of a delay?
-
I'm not sure what constitutes a large refund. It was pretty big and I did have a child tax credit and EIC. But all of those things are consistent with previous years' returns.
-
After much wrangling, I have finally acquired access to my IRS transcript.
There is no 810 Freeze Code. Interestingly, there is an 846 Refund Issued code future-dated for 12/20/23. (Today is 12/15.) There is also a 571 Resolved Additional Account Action and a 776 Interest Credited to Your Account future dated for 1/1/2024. I guess that's good news but I'll believe it when I see it.
-
Once the 846 is there, you're pretty much good to go. And if you selected Direct Deposit, it should show up shortly. At least you're getting some interest (bad news: it's taxable!) and the current interest rate they're paying is pretty good (8%). Were there codes before the 571 to indicate what the problem was?
-
Nope. It just says "Additional Account Action Pending" and "Letter Issued" in May and then nothing until December where it says "Resolved". It might, indeed, have been as simple as a massive backlog but I guess I'll never know.
-
Thank you to everyone who responded! You were a great help.