How long is an amended return taking? It says 12-16 weeks. It has been 18 weeks for mine

The IRS was not processing any type of paper tax return for several months due to the pandemic and limited staffing. They have only just recently started to process approximately 11 million paper returns in the order they were received.

 

Go to this IRS website for information - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue

We're experiencing delays in processing paper tax returns due to limited staffing. If you already filed a paper return, we will process it in the order we received it.

Do not file a second tax return or contact the IRS about the status of your return.

 

Go to this IRS website for the status of an amended tax return - https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return

This year amended returns that were mailed in are taking 6 months or more due to the covid shut down earlier this year.   Once your envelope finally gets opened and the return is in the system you can check for progress here :   https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return