TurboTax E-mail saying return is on the way

[RefundQuestions]

TurboTax sent me an email saying congratulations your return is on the way two days ago. I have been checking the IRS website and it is still just in accepted status with a message saying my return is taking longer than usual to process. 

I saw a news article stating that people with the child tax credit will not get any refunds until at least 2/27. 

So is the refund email I received just an automated message based on the original estimated refund date, or is my refund legit being processed to be sent over to my direct deposit? 

[CatinaT1]

Once your return is filed, TurboTax has no control over the processing of your return or the release of your refund.

Here are a couple FAQs to track your refund:
When will I get my federal tax refund?
How do I track my state refund?
Why does Where's My Refund say "approved" but TurboTax still says "accepted"?

[rjs]

Its just an automated email based on the fact that your tax return was accepted. The email was sent by the TurboTax marketing department. They have no knowledge of when your refund will actually be issued. TurboTax does not get any information from the IRS about the status of your refund. Continue using the IRS web site to check the status of your refund.

[RefundQuestions]

Thank you, I figured it probably was an automated message just based on their estimated refund date.  Just had a small hope that maybe that had a notification a payment was coming since the deluxe fee was coming out of my refund. 

Oh well, back to my daily check of the IRS website then. 

[rjs]

Having your TurboTax fee taken out of your refund will take a few extra days. When the IRS web site says that they sent your refund, it means that they sent it to the bank that takes the fee out and sends the rest of the refund to your bank. The IRS doesn't know when the intermediary bank sends the refund to your bank.