My refund went from "accepted" to we have received your return and it is being processed what exactly Does that mean tonight will be 21 days since my refund was ACCEPTED

[JJ1974]

My refund was accepted on April 6, and is saying being processed for ever now. My 21st day will be Tuesday should I call if it hasn’t approved on the 22nd day, or does being processed mean I’m going to be approved eventually? I’m confused 

[ToddL99]

Be patient - it will get processed eventually, and a 21-day (or longer) delay is very common this year. 

If you filed your 2020 taxes and haven't received your refund, your experience is very common -  the IRS is encountering major delays in processing 2020 tax returns, and is almost impossible to reach by phone. 

Why is this happening? Tax season (normally Jan 1 - Apr 15) is the busiest time of the year for the IRS. This year, they have also had to deal with major changes in the tax law, including ones that were passed retroactively in the past two weeks. They are also struggling with the same COVID workplace and workforce issues the rest of the country has encountered. 

 
According to  the Washington Post (Mar 12, 2021): 

 
Nearly 7 million tax filers are in limbo and facing substantial delays in getting refunds so far this tax filing season, as the Internal Revenue Service struggles to keep up with the demands of issuing stimulus checks and implementing myriad tax code changes from coronavirus relief packages, including the one President Biden signed this week. 

 
There are 6.7 million returns that have not yet been processed, more than three times the number in the same period last year, when fewer than 2 million returns faced delayed processing, IRS data shows. 

The IRS Where’s My Refund? site is still the best first place to go for information. 

[Ashangelss]

That happened to me. Mine was like that for two months. I finally got through to a human and they said I had to verify my identity. Perhaps, this is your issue as well? I would try calling. You can also go onto the irs website and click the link that talks about verifying identity. All it is is answering questions rewarding your tax return, so make sure you have your tax return handy when on the site. It asks questions like “what did you list on such and such a line as your gross income?”, etc.  They are really simple questions to answer. Just make sure you can refer to Your current tax return either on paper or online. They told me you will only be able to complete the questions, if you qualify to prove identity. So if this is your issue, you will be able to complete the answers. If it’s not your issue, you won’t be able to compete. When you first go on the irs site, you will have to set up an account with them, but it’s really easy. If you have an account already, just sign in and go to the part where it says to verify your identity. It’s super quick and easy to complete, as long as you have a copy of the tax return. I hope this helped! 

[SweetieJean]

The IRS is seriously backlogged due to all the new tax laws and extra stimulus filings, as well as unprocessed 2019 returns left over from the COVID shutdown.  Lots of other folks are still waiting (some since mid-February), so please continue to be patient.  Also see:

At least 8 million tax returns are in limbo at the IRS because of the pandemic, delaying refunds (ms...

[Twalther89]

I filed my taxes on Feb 23 and have received that same message since then it's now Aug 4th still no money and message has not changed can anyone answer that because even the IRS has no answers besides I can't tell you anything at this time like seriously if I owed you money for 5months I'd be in jail 

[DoninGA]

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@Twalther89 wrote:

I filed my taxes on Feb 23 and have received that same message since then it's now Aug 4th still no money and message has not changed can anyone answer that because even the IRS has no answers besides I can't tell you anything at this time like seriously if I owed you money for 5months I'd be in jail 

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The IRS is seriously behind in processing 2020 tax returns.  This is due to many factors, such as the pandemic, completing processing of millions of 2019 tax returns, stimulus payments, unemployment compensation exclusion tax refunds., changes in the tax code by Congress in the middle of the 2020 tax season and the like.

Millions of taxpayers have not yet received there federal tax refunds.

Go to this IRS website for operational status - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue

As of July 24, 2021, we had 14.7 million unprocessed individual returns. Unprocessed individual returns include tax year 2020 returns such as those requiring correction to the Recovery Rebate Credit amount or validation of 2019 income used to figure the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). This work does not require us to correspond with taxpayers but does require special handling by an IRS employee so, in these instances, it is taking the IRS more than 21 days to issue any related refund and in some cases this work could take 90 to 120 days. If, as a result, a correction is made to any RRC, EITC or ACTC claimed on the return, the IRS will send taxpayers an explanation. Taxpayers are encouraged to continue to check Where’s My Refund? for their personalized refund status and can review Tax Season Refund Frequently Asked Questions.

What you should do: In most instances, no further action is needed but you may check Where’s my refund or you can view your account. If you filed electronically and received an acknowledgement, you do not need to take any further action other than promptly responding to any requests for information. If you filed on paper, check Where’s my refund? If it tells you we have received your return or are processing or reviewing it, we are processing your return, but it may be under review. We’re working hard to get through the backlog. Please don’t file a second tax return or contact the IRS about the status of your return.

[WaySheGoes]

@Ashangelss  after you completed the ID verification, roughly how long was it until the IRS site changed from 'being processed ' to something else? Or how long was it until you received your refund? (Was it paper check or deposit?) 

[Mschuck925]

Thanks, that’s a lot more helpful then previous ambiguous replies 

[Hello32769]

It's been well over 21 days and I'm still being charged for my federal taxes .I still have not received 

[Charlettegrady]

To processing it will be a month on the 3 of March just trying to see what going on

[Macarooni122]

That's exactly what it mean.

[Tiasia]

Where is my refund

[DoninGA]

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@Tiasia wrote:

Where is my refund

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Did you e-file your tax return and was it accepted?
Only the IRS and your State control when and if a Federal or State tax refund is Approved and Issued.

You complete your tax return by finishing all 3 Steps in the File section. In Step 3, to e-file your tax return, you must click on the large button labeled "Transmit my returns now".

After completing the File section and e-filing your tax return you will receive two emails from TurboTax. The first email when your tax return was transmitted and the second email when the tax return has either been accepted or rejected.

Note - Once a tax return has been Accepted by the IRS or a State, TurboTax receives no further information concerning the tax return or the status of any tax refund.  Only the taxpayer listed on the tax return can obtain the status of a tax refund or a tax return.

To check the status of an e-filed return, open up your desktop product or log into your TurboTax Online Account. You can find your status within the TurboTax product.
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

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.
See this IRS website for federal tax refund FAQ's - https://www.irs.gov/refunds/tax-season-refund-frequently-asked-questions

[cynthiargarcia68]

Hello this is Cynthia Garcia I did My e file form for the income tax refund and I still haven't received anything yet and it's going on 1 year already it's been since June of last year

[ksue1203]

its has been over 8 months. the irs  "where's my refund" site still says its being processed. I had to upload docs. proving my ID, I did that 8 months ago. what is the hold up?