No, the PATH message does NOT mean you are approved. It verifies that you have been accepted and are processing and you will not have a confirmation of your status until A) AFTER February 15th as the message says or B) when you receive a letter in the mail from the IRS or C) when you wake to a deposit in your account.
There is far too much speculation going on, as there is every year. Yes, it's nice to have hope but the fact is until whatever is going to happen for you happens, you honestly have no idea what is going on just like everyone else. You could call the IRS 5 times and speak to 5 different people and you will more than likely hear 5 different things. Several people on another forum said that PATH meant approved until 4 members came back within a week of getting the message to report they had received the 4464c letter or the CP05 notice or some other form of letter/notice from the IRS.
As far as transcripts are concerned: Being able to order them and receiving them with information means you have been processed, only. Until your Account Transcript includes 846 Refund Issued on the bottom left, you have NOT been approved. Your Return Transcript is a read out of what you have filed on your return. Your Account Transcript includes information about the actions taken with your account and can/does change periodically throughout the year. The "cycle code" on your Account Transcript is an internal marker of the date your IMF (Individual Master File) was created, in common terms, the day you entered the system. The IRS states that it never tells your deposit date but those of us who have used that method in the past can say that in fact it did used to work.....this year, because of PATH, all of that is out the window. An example of that is: I was accepted in an early test batch on 1/12 and my Account Transcript cycle code is 20170405 which would have been either Wednesday Feb 1 or Thursday Feb 2 (in past years day 05 was Wednesday, apparently this year 05 is Thursday but I do know of a forum member with no credits who was 20170405 who had their deposit on Wednesday, 2/1) since I have income of less than $25,000 and 3 dependents and I qualify for the EITC and ACTC I already knew I would not see a refund before 2/15 because it has been reported a myriad of times.
Today is 2/12, it's just a couple of more days until we all start seeing changes, and if you do not see them right away DON'T PANIC! They have said results will start AFTER 2/15 and that deposits may not be seen until the week of the 27th so just hang in there. Remember that the IRS will NOT call you and they will NOT email you, they will contact you via U.S. Postal mail if necessary. Keep an eye on your Tax Topic at Where's My Refund? Tax Topic 152 is a generic message you receive if you've requested direct deposit of your funds.
Keep in mind, it is totally possible that you will have your refund before WMR even updates. It happens more often than you think.
If you are having your filing fees deducted from your refund, TurboTax uses Santa Barbara Taxpayer Group for that purpose and your funds will go from the IRS to SBTPG and then to your bank. You can go here https://taxpayer.sbtpg.com/login to see if/when your money passes through there.
This has in fact been the most stressful tax season to date, especially for those with the refundable credits included on their returns. Most of that has to do with false information and speculation. What I have posted here is fact and can be verified with a few simple searches of IRS publications. Just because you "saw it on a forum" does not make it a fact. Always research what you see/hear.
Happy Taxmas y'all.
