Why would my federal return change to $0 after irs accepted it?

[Texas Roger · Accepted solution]

Your actual tax return would not change unless you made a change on it. When a return is accepted, it just means that the IRS has confirmed you name and social security number and that no one else has filed a return with that number. The refund is not accepted until the IRS processes your return.

The refund you get from the IRS can change substantially particularly if you are subject to an offset for some reason such as student loans or something else. 

Here is how the process works: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/articles/community-news-announcements/where-s-my-tax-refund-how-to...

[Texas Roger]

One additional comment about why a tax return (not refund) would change to $0. If you accidentally hit the notice to start an amended return, it would change the refund amount to $0 in anticipation that you would enter the changes for an amended return.