Still no federal refund after over 6 months - options?

[Rich]

We still have not received our refund on our 2020
federal return that was e-filed and accepted on
Sept 27, 2021 (after a timely-filed extension).
Our tax transcript is still showing the credit
(for us) balance on our account. We have
not received any documents from the IRS at
all saying why they are holding the refund. All our
past returns (which were all refund returns) were
timely filed, accepted, and have be paid out.

Is there any "secret" numbers on can call about
this sort of thing, or is the main IRS phone number
the only option? In any event, I assume waiting
until *at least* a week or two after April 18 would
be wise? 🙂 And yes, I know I'm likely to be on hold
forever.

(after this, for 2021 I'm going to just have them apply
any refund to 2022, I think.)

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[honda....@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 9:34:27 AM UTC-5, Rich wrote:
> We still have not received our refund on our 2020
> federal return that was e-filed and accepted on
> Sept 27, 2021 (after a timely-filed extension).
> Our tax transcript is still showing the credit
> (for us) balance on our account. We have
> not received any documents from the IRS at
> all saying why they are holding the refund. All our
> past returns (which were all refund returns) were
> timely filed, accepted, and have be paid out.
>
> Is there any "secret" numbers on can call about
> this sort of thing, or is the main IRS phone number
> the only option? In any event, I assume waiting
> until *at least* a week or two after April 18 would
> be wise? 🙂 And yes, I know I'm likely to be on hold
> forever.
>
> (after this, for 2021 I'm going to just have them apply
> any refund to 2022, I think.)

I know one person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in April 2021,
adding pay from jury duty that changes his refund by about $200. I know a second
person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in late May, 2021. All
they can get from the IRS site is that the IRS is still working on their returns
(meaning the IRS has not gotten to the returns, AFAIC).

I saw anecdotal reports a few months ago that the logjam is starting to break up.

But if I were you, I would be prepared to wait another year. I think it could easily
take this long.

I agree the best option may be (1) to just apply any refund to future tax years; and
(2) make sure one always owes some small amount (under $1000) to the IRS for
each tax year.

April 4, 2022 article on the IRS's hiring effort:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/04/irs-tax-backlog-hiring/

Note the effort to hire blue collar, non college degreed folks to help with the
IRS back log.

Granted, and short of putting Pete Buttigieg or Bill Gates in charge of the IRS,
I am not sure I have any better solutions.

I expect things will get worse before they get better.

[Rich]

On Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 11:19:27 AM UTC-4, honda....@gmail.com wrote:
> I know one person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in April 2021,
> adding pay from jury duty that changes his refund by about $200. I know a second
> person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in late May, 2021. All
> they can get from the IRS site is that the IRS is still working on their returns
> (meaning the IRS has not gotten to the returns, AFAIC).
>
> I saw anecdotal reports a few months ago that the logjam is starting to break up.
>
> But if I were you, I would be prepared to wait another year. I think it could easily
> take this long.

The thing is that according to my tax transcript, the return was accepted on
Sep 27, 2021 and was "processed" on Oct 18, 2021. The transcript shows
all the return info, including the correct refund balance. I could understand
if the return wasn't processed at all. But it was processed and got into
the computers to the point where it fully shows up in the 2020 transcript.
But they haven't sent the refund or told me why they are not sending it.

In fact, up until the point where "Where's My Refund" flipped over to
showing 2021 return info I could go to "Where's My Refund" and
enter my SSN and refund amount and it would show that I had a
refund coming, though it never got around to showing an estimated
date that it would be sent.

--
Rich

[Ret...@serv1.dca1.giganews.com]

On 4/12/22 10:31 AM, Rich wrote:
> We still have not received our refund on our 2020
> federal return that was e-filed and accepted on
> Sept 27, 2021 (after a timely-filed extension).
> Our tax transcript is still showing the credit
> (for us) balance on our account. We have
> not received any documents from the IRS at
> all saying why they are holding the refund. All our
> past returns (which were all refund returns) were
> timely filed, accepted, and have be paid out.
>
> Is there any "secret" numbers on can call about
> this sort of thing, or is the main IRS phone number
> the only option? In any event, I assume waiting
> until *at least* a week or two after April 18 would
> be wise? 🙂 And yes, I know I'm likely to be on hold
> forever.
>
> (after this, for 2021 I'm going to just have them apply
> any refund to 2022, I think.)
>

Some folks in this situation have had good luck contacting their local
Congressional representative office to get such resolved. Worth a try
anyway.

[ira smilovitz]

On Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 12:29:27 PM UTC-4, Rich wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 11:19:27 AM UTC-4, honda....@gmail.com wrote:
> > I know one person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in April 2021,
> > adding pay from jury duty that changes his refund by about $200. I know a second
> > person who filed an amended return (for tax year 2020) in late May, 2021. All
> > they can get from the IRS site is that the IRS is still working on their returns
> > (meaning the IRS has not gotten to the returns, AFAIC).
> >
> > I saw anecdotal reports a few months ago that the logjam is starting to break up.
> >
> > But if I were you, I would be prepared to wait another year. I think it could easily
> > take this long.
> The thing is that according to my tax transcript, the return was accepted on
> Sep 27, 2021 and was "processed" on Oct 18, 2021. The transcript shows
> all the return info, including the correct refund balance. I could understand
> if the return wasn't processed at all. But it was processed and got into
> the computers to the point where it fully shows up in the 2020 transcript.
> But they haven't sent the refund or told me why they are not sending it.
>
> In fact, up until the point where "Where's My Refund" flipped over to
> showing 2021 return info I could go to "Where's My Refund" and
> enter my SSN and refund amount and it would show that I had a
> refund coming, though it never got around to showing an estimated
> date that it would be sent.
>
> --
> Rich
> --

Processed only means that the data is in the computer. Something in the return required additional review which means a person needs to look at it. That's where all the backlog is.

Ira Smilovitz, EA
Leonia, NJ

[Adam H. Kerman]

honda....@gmail.com <honda....@gmail.com> wrote:

>. . .

>Granted, and short of putting Pete Buttigieg or Bill Gates in charge of
>the IRS, I am not sure I have any better solutions.

You want the Blue Screen of Death to fall upon IRS tax return
processing?