What does it mean when the IRS accepts your tax return?

[DoninGA]

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.

If accepted by the IRS use the federal tax refund website to check the refund status - https://www.irs.gov/refunds

[bluedeb · Accepted solution]

Accepted means your return was received and the basics (such as the correct social security number) seem to be in order.

• Once the IRS takes a deeper look, they will (hopefully) quickly approve your refund. For more details on their process, see: Does accepted mean my refund is approved?

To track your federal refund, look on the IRS Where's My Refund site. 

For state refunds, use your state government's refund lookup service.