Has anyone received a 2026 refund yet ?

[marytony]

My return was 'received' and finally 'accepted' on Jan 30. Today is day 7 since and still not at 'refund approved' status. There were so many issues last year, my refund took about 9 months. I'm just wondering if anyone's received a refund yet this year. 

[xmasbaby0]

TurboTax gives you an estimated date for receiving your refund based on a 21 day average from your date of acceptance, but it can take longer.  “21 days”  is not a promise from TurboTax or the IRS. 

First, check your e-file status to see if your return was accepted: 

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/efile-status-lookup/

Once your federal return has been accepted by the IRS, only the IRS has any control.  TurboTax does not receive any updates from the IRS. Your ONLY source of information about your refund now is the IRS.

You need your filing status, your Social Security number and the exact amount  (line 35a of your 2025 Form 1040) of your federal refund to track your Federal refund:   

https://www.irs.gov/refunds

To track your state refund:    

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/track-state-refund/L3jgO8PGs_...

If you chose to have your TurboTax fees deducted from your federal refund, that will take some extra time, while the third party bank handles the refund processing

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/refunds-take-longer-others/L1...

.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-refund/irs-refund-taking-longer-21-d...

If you are getting earned income credit on line 27 or additional child tax credit on line 28 You are subject to the delay required by the PATH act.  Do not expect your refund before early March

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/internal-revenue-service/federal-refunds...

Note:  “Accepted” is not the same as “approved”.  TurboTax tells you the e-file was accepted if the IRS deems that there is enough information on the return for them to take it in for processing.   Only the IRS can approve of the refund, which is a later stage of processing.  If the IRS approves your refund they will provide a date for the refund to be issued.

FROM THE IRS WHERE’S MY REFUND SITE:

https://www.irs.gov/wheres-my-refund

How it works

Where's My Refund shows your refund status:

• Return Received – We received your return and are processing it.
• Refund Approved – We approved your refund and are preparing to issue it by the date shown.
• Refund Sent – We sent the refund to your bank or to you in the mail. It may take 5 days for it to show in your bank account or several weeks for your check to arrive in the mail.

[marytony]

I am aware of your entire reponse, but thank you for posting it for others that may not be aware. I'm simply interested if any other filers using TT, have already received their refunds this year. I had to re-file on Jan 30, it was accepted that same day. It's been 7 days today and I've read on other community discussions that some folks using other software programs have received their refunds early by paying a fee for 'early refunds' offered by their tax programs. I'm just wondering if any TT users have received their refunds yet this year (2026).

[Kray-Fish]

Yeah so I don’t think they were asking how to find out where their refund was, I do believe their question was HAS ANYONE RECEIVED THEIR refund for 2026. Not how to find out anything about their own. Asking for individual experiences. Others POV’s. This answer is 100% irrelevant to OP’s question. 

[xmasbaby0]

@Kray-Fish We have seen a few users in the forum who say they already received refunds.   The thing is, usually folks who have already received their refunds are "done" and stop looking at  or posting to the user forum.   So there are fewer chances that you will get replies from people who are no longer asking questions or looking for their refunds.

[marytony]

Maybe the question I ask should be 'has anyone received a date yet of a future refund to be sent to their bank'. All I'm wondering is what day someone is expecting ther refund based on which day their filing was at the 'accepted' status, so I can try to figure out when I can hopefully expect mine. I know the IRS suggested amount of time is 21 days, but I don't really care for cookie cutter answers, I'd much rather know what the reality of it is since last year it took about 9 months for my refund.

[marytony · Accepted solution]

Filed with TT, IRS 'ACCEPTED' Jan 30th. 14 days later on Feb 13th, the status changed to 'APPROVED' and also read, " Your tax refund is scheduled to be sent to your bank by February 19, 2026. If your refund is not credited to your account by February 24, 2026, check with your bank to see if it has been received."

Today is Feb 16th, no changes.

[xmasbaby0]

@marytony Not sure what the question is.   You are seeing on the IRS site that your refund is approved and that the IRS will issue it on a specified date several days from now---on 2-19.   They also tell you to allow up to five days for the refund to post to your account.   What "changes" are you expecting to see?  Where are you expecting to see a change?   If you mean on your TT account, that is never going to change from "accepted"-- once you file your tax return, TurboTax gets no updates from the IRS.   Your account will only show that your e-file was accepted; TT never knows if or when you got your refund.

[Kray-Fish]

I do believe they were very simply giving an update; yknow, like how the original poster of this thread was asking for other’s input. not for common knowledge and **bleep** you can find on a Q&A page. 

[marytony]

Luckily your information is not true. TT notified me at 3:19pm 2/218/26, which was immediately, that the funds were sent from IRS to my bank.

[Kray-Fish]

Got mine yesterday afternoon as well before anything or any company notified me. I found out by the deposit dropping in my acct. 👍 so glad we could keep community despite the constant push of automation. 

[marytony]

TT did notified me immediately (at 3:19pm 2/218/26) that the funds were sent from IRS to my bank. Funds were received by my bank at 6:30 am the following day when the bank posts all deposits from the day before. I would mention this was exactly 21 days from APPROVED status to PAID status. I was notified by both the IRS and by TT of all notifications along the way. 

I've used TT (& QB) since the very first year it was available. I've also tried a few other programs over the years just to see if there was any difference. There is no difference in the amount on the bottom line as long as you fill in the exact amounts along the process on any program you use. I get the same amount on the bottom line no matter what program I try.

I personally prefer TT because it's SIMPLE when you're starting out filing your own taxes, to go thru the interview process and answer questions. It's also SIMPLE, once you've become accustomed to your own taxes, becasue you can skip the 'interview' process and just fill in what you want to fill in on the forms it needs to be filed in. 

TT will notify you along the way of every change IF YOU AGREE TO THAT while filing. So if anyone says they haven't heard from TT along the way, it's simply because they have NOT requested to be notified on the program. this is simply an option.

[marytony]

I received my refund in my bank account on day 21, as estimated by both TT and the IRS.