Is the government shutdown affecting when returns are being accepted? It’s been 4 days and it’s still pending?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

Your tax return will be Pending until the IRS starts accepting 2018 tax returns on or after 01/28/19.  You will receive an email from TurboTax when the tax return has either bee accepted or rejected.  After the tax return has been Accepted by the IRS (meaning only that they received the return) it will be in the Processing mode until the tax refund has been Approved and then an Issue Date will be available on the IRS website - 

Use this TurboTax website to check the status of an e-filed return and if it was either accepted or rejected - https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/efile-status-lookup/

If accepted by the IRS use the federal tax refund website to check the refund status - https://www.irs.gov/refunds

If accepted by the state use this TurboTax support FAQ to check the state tax refund status - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899433-how-do-i-track-my-state-refund

[rjs]

It's not because of the government shutdown. The IRS never intended to start accepting tax returns any earlier than January 28. They will start accepting returns on that date in spite of the shutdown. TurboTax allows you to send your tax return to TurboTax before the IRS is ready to accept returns. TurboTax just holds it until the IRS starts accepting returns.

[polarbears-mommy]

ok thanks

[ericka9491]

@rjs so those who have been accepted who had filed prior to the 28th are considered test batches?

[rjs]

@ericka9491 - Yes. The IRS pulls a small number of returns from the queue early in order to test the e-file system. But those returns will not be processed until after January 28. After they have been accepted they just sit at the IRS until processing starts on the 28th.

[cherriesplz24]

It’s been over a week for me still pending very disappointing at this point

[justjohn825]

Honestly I highly believe it is due to the shutdown. As the past 2 years mine was accepted the same day the it's opened. And here we are on the 30 and I'm still pending. I filed on the 26th so it's technically only been 2 days but still that's odd

[DoninGA]

The IRS pulls tax returns from all the various tax preparation company servers.  Just because the IRS just started processing 2018 tax returns on 01/28 does not mean all the several million returns that have been filed early are going to be pulled within 24 to 48 hours at the start of the tax season.  Those hours would be correct for later in the season.