I have a client who has had lots of money moving around over 3 years of taxes and we're trying to resolve the last little bit of a refund they are waiting on. Their 2020 tax transcript shows a negative balance (credit) that I agree with and believe needs to be refunded to them based on all the records we can pull up and back and forth with the IRS. This credit has been sitting there since May 8, 2023. Is there a reason the credit/refund isn't being released? I can the reason for the credit on the account is because the client paid in their tax balance due at the same time the IRS took a refund from a later year and applied it back to the balance due (timing issue--but the client paid first per the transcript)....so it was caused by a duplication of the payment posting to this tax year.
Does the client need to send in a request for the refund to be released? Or should we just wait and hope they release it eventually? I can't say I've run into this issue before.
Apparently you are a tax professional. You should ask that question in the professional tax site.