☰
✕
Sign In

Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
Level 1
posted Mar 4, 2021 10:02:09 PM

I have filed my 2019 tax return in around March 2020 by mail and still haven't received the refund for it yet. Is this normal? No one is picking up my phone call from IRS

I have tried going on the IRS website to check on the "Where's My Refund" status, but no information was available. I've also called the IRS numerous times but no one's responded until now. What do I do?

0 2 173
2 Replies
Level 15
Mar 5, 2021 12:22:28 AM

if you were due a refund for 2019 and filed in March 2020 you should have received it by now.  i would suggest that you try to see if the IRS has a transcript of your return. 

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

 

if not, it's likely they never got it. in that case I would mail in a copy using a method where you get proof of delivery. if there's a transcript see if the IRS changed anything. if not 

see this link for following up on lost refund

https://www.irs.gov/faqs/irs-procedures/refund-inquiries/refund-inquiries-0

 

Level 15
Mar 5, 2021 12:29:14 AM

@tiffangelia  wrote:  "No one is picking up my phone call from IRS."

 

If you can't open an IRS account to get a 2019 tax return transcript, then you do need to talk to them to see if they received it, and if it's tied up in processing.  If you have an IRS account but find no transcript, it might still be tied up in processing.  They were shut down for several months last year and paper returns piled up all over the place causing months-long delays for anything that needed manual processing.   And if it required any extra review, it could still be in limbo.  So I'd contact them.

 

Here is the normal method to reach a live IRS agent when they are operating smoothly (it may take some effort and long hold times.)   And I'll also tell you below how to reach the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, if needed.

 

IRS:  800-829-1040 (7AM-7 PM local time) Monday-Friday

 

When calling the IRS do not choose the first choice re: "Refund", or it will send you to an automated phone line.

  • First choose your language.  Then listen to each menu before making the selection.
  • Then press 2 for "personal income tax".
  • Then press 1 for "form, tax history, or payment".  
  • Then press 3 "for all other questions."
  • Then press 2 "for all other questions." 
  • It may then ask for your SSN, but do not enter it.  Just wait.    It will likely ask for your SSN a second time, still do not enter it.
  • Then it will get "tired", and you'll get another menu.  Choose 2 for "personal".
  • Then in the next menu choose 4 for "all other inquiries", and it should transfer you to an agent but expect a long wait.
  • I usually use a speakerphone so I can work on something else while waiting.

If you continue to have no luck reaching the IRS, you can try contacting the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service for your area.    They are especially prone to help if you have an economic hardship, or if there have been continued delays with lack of info from the IRS.    At the following IRS website, find the USA map and click on your state, and it will give you the number of your IRS Taxpayer Advocate.    If the Taxpayer Advocate Service can't/won't help you, ask them to transfer you to an an IRS agent.  A couple of users reported that at least for them, that was a backdoor route to the IRS.

 

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-a-Local-Taxpayer-Advocate

 

Also see this article for more info on how the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service works::
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc104.html