Where is my amended 2020 return status?

[HerbieK]

On March 26, I e-filed an amended return for TY 2020 through Turbotax, as that was the first date it was permitted by Turbotax. Within an hour, I received an email from Turbotax, stating the IRS has accepted the return.

I check the IRS.gov "Where's my Amended Return" site every day and it does not show as being received. I was told it would take up to three weeks, but it's been almost four weeks now.

On March 3, 2021 I had my accountant e-file an amended return for 2019 as it could not be e-filed through Turbotax. On March 15th, I was able to see on the same IRS.gov/wmar site that it was received on March 3rd.

What is going on here? How come my 2019 amended return appeared within days, but my 2020 amended  return is nowhere to be seen? Had I known this, I would have paid him to amend and e-file my 2020 return as well, but I already had it prepared and thought the process would be the same with Turbotax. My refund and stimulus payment will not be paid until this is resolved, and given that it takes 16 weeks to process, I certainly hope my return is not "Lost in Space"!

[AmyC]

The IRS is processing e-filed 2019 returns much more quickly than 2020. The 2020 returns have many more stages and steps to process through checking for all the extra things that happened. The process time for 2020 is slower. In addition, your 2020 was filed really fast, very few people had all paperwork and finances settled by that date to even file an amended return.

Congress changed all the tax laws as you were filing an amended return. The IRS will begin processing returns that had unemployment, on originals this summer. If your amend had anything to do with the Congressional changes, it will be a long time before processed, as in months. It has nothing to do with which service you used to file, simply the year and circumstances. Amended returns are second place to original returns in priority for the IRS to process.