2020 federal refund not received - what does this status mean.

[jschoomer]

My mom and mom-in-law filed their 2020 taxes in October 2021 using TurboTax Deluxe (Desktop version) - they had paid the taxes in advance in March 2021 when they requested an extension (State: $750, and Federal: $450). Both of them got a TurboTax email confirmation in October 2020 that State and Federal returns were accepted. And in November, they got the $750 refund back from the State because they did not end up owing any taxes.

It's February 2022, and they haven't received the federal $750 refund that's also due. I checked the refund status on IRS site and here's what it says for both of them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mom: Your tax return is still being processed. A refund date will be provided when available.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mom-in-law: We cannot provide any information about your refund. Be sure to:

• verify your filing date;
• check with your tax preparer

If you filed a complete and accurate tax return, your refund should be issued within six weeks of the received date. However, processing may take longer under certain circumstances.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q1: Does my mom's status indicate there is an issue with the filing? What does she do now?

Q2: Does my mom-in-law's status indicate that IRS did not receive her federal return? What does she do now?

Q3: My mom received a 2021 Economic Impact Payment letter in Jan 2022. Does that have anything to do with her 2020 federal refund status?

Q4: Worst case, if none of them receive the $750 refund on time, they should still file the 2021 tax returns (State and Federal) as per the tax deadlines, correct?

Thanks in advance!

[AmyC]

Q1. Your mom's return is fine. It has been received and the IRS will get around to it. Once a payment date is set, she will get her refund.

Q2, Possibly. It could be the way the data is being entered. You must enter the social for the primary person on the return. If she is not listed first, that is the message she would get. If she is the first one listed, then you need to contact Turbo Tax to get the DCN, the tracking number from the Electronic Filing Engine. She will need to Contact Us and verify her identity.

Q3. No.

Q4. This year should be filed regardless. Prior year return has only AGI to use this year. Use the AGI of zero if the returns are not finished processing when you file. 

[jschoomer]

AmyC:

Thank you very very much for the detailed reply. That clarity certainly helps. Have a follow up for Q4 where you wrote "This year should be filed regardless. Prior year return has only AGI to use this year. Use the AGI of zero if the returns are not finished processing when you file. "

For the last two years, both of them have needed an extension (until October) to file their federal (Form 4868) and Virginia state tax (Form 760-IP) returns. Thus, by April deadline, they applied for the extension and paid a dollar amount which was always refunded because their income is low and so they did not end up owing any taxes. For 2021, they don't want to pay any taxes ahead of time (in April) because they know they will only get all of the amount refunded. So the question is: If no taxes are owed for 2021 and they can't file their 2021 federal and Virginia state tax returns in April, do they still need to seek an extension from IRS and Virginia by sending in Form 4868 and Form 760-IP respectively by entering $0 as estimated tax liability?

Regards!

[JulieS]

Yes, even though they do not expect to owe, an extension should be filed by April 18. 

There are a few reasons for this. First, that is the best practice. Second, there are several elections and options that must be made by the filing deadline, including extensions. Best to keep all options open. 

Third, the three year window to amend and get a refund is based on three years from the due date, including extensions, to receive a refund. 

[jschoomer]

@AmyC / @JulieS :

This is wrt your reply for my Q4 "Possibly. It could be the way the data is being entered. You must enter the social for the primary person on the return. If she is not listed first, that is the message she would get. If she is the first one listed, then you need to contact Turbo Tax to get the DCN, the tracking number from the Electronic Filing Engine. She will need to Contact Us and verify her identity."

My mom-in-law is trying to connect with TurboTax via Contact Us and despite going through the prompts on the phone, she's just not able to get a live person. She even tried using the Chat option but that doesn't connect her to a live agent either. How do we fix this?

Thanks!

[jschoomer]

@AmyC @JulieS :

An update to my 2/23 thread. Was planning on calling TurboTax today for my mom-in-law's 2020 federal tax status since it appeared IRS hadn't received it. This morning, it changed FROM:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We cannot provide any information about your refund. Be sure to:

• verify your filing date;
• check with your tax preparer

If you filed a complete and accurate tax return, your refund should be issued within six weeks of the received date. However, processing may take longer under certain circumstances.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TO:

We apologize, but your return processing has been delayed beyond the normal timeframe.

You can continue to check back here for the most up to date information regarding your refund.

We understand your tax refund is very important and we are working to process your return as quickly as possible.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does the latest status indicate all is well and IRS did indeed receive my mom-in-law's 2020 tax returns. Is there any action she needs to initiate or just wait until the next status change of refund being processed / sent?

Thanks!

[Critter-3]

All she can do is wait ... the return is making it's way thru processing however it will take more time.  They still have a few million 2020 returns they are still trying to get processed.   Check the IRS site once a week until the message changes.  Waiting for hours online to get the same answer from an IRS agent is a waste of your time.