My taxes were accepted 2/15 and it has been over 21 days website says processing no bars no date for refund

Due to Covid causing a shortage of IRS agents, the IRS has a backlog of returns and there is a lot of traffic on their website. This causes the website to slow down and this can cause the status bar to disappear.

 

Please click IRS Operations During COVID-19: Mission-critical functions continue to learn more. 

 

The IRS states:

 

WHERE’S MY REFUND STATUS BARS DISAPPEARED

"We have gotten many comments and messages regarding the IRS Where’s My Refund Tool having your orange status bar disappearing. This has to do with irs.gov where’s my refund site having too much traffic and lagging. This is causing images not to display and information about your federal tax return to not show up. This has happened every year since the tool was first available. This has nothing to do with you being flagged or your return being denied. Status Bars Disappeared for many Americans who filed early.

This also can have to do with your browser settings as well as your cache. Please try using a different browser such as Chrome or Firefox. Also, clear your cache in your browser settings."

 

When checking on the status of your refund at the IRS Where's My Refund (WMR) site, you may get the message: We cannot provide any information about your refund. You must wait at least 24 hours after you get the acknowledgment e-mail that your tax return was received by the IRS.

 

You might receive this message because:

• Your e-filed return was accepted (received) by the IRS less than 24 hours ago. Wait at least 24 hours after acceptance before using WMR.
• Your return is still pending.
• You never e-filed. You can quickly find out if you did by checking your status.
• If you don't see a status, go through the TurboTax File section again. Be sure to go all the way to the end and select Transmit my returns now.
• You mailed your return less than 4 weeks ago. Paper-filers should wait four weeks Due to Covid causing a shortage of IRS agents, the IRS has a backlog of returns and there is a lot of traffic on their website. This causes the website to slow down and this can cause the status bar to disappear.

 

 

 

 

"This causes the website to slow down and this can cause the status bar to disappear."

That definitely does not appear to be the primary cause of bars disappearing this year. People's whose status bar has disappeared, with the "still being processed" message, can check the WMR at 3:00am, and there's still no status bar.  ... that's outdated info.