Why can’t TurboTax find my refund?

[DoninGA]

Did you e-file your tax return and was it accepted?
Only the IRS and your State control when and if a Federal or State tax refund is Approved and Issued.

You complete your tax return by finishing all 3 Steps in the File section. In Step 3, to e-file your tax return, you must click on the large Orange button labeled "Transmit my returns now".

After completing the File section and e-filing your tax return you will receive two emails from TurboTax. The first email when your tax return was transmitted and the second email when the tax return has either been accepted or rejected.

To check the status of an e-filed return, open up your desktop product or log into your TurboTax Online Account. You can find your status within the TurboTax product.
If accepted by the IRS use the federal tax refund website to check the refund status - https://www.irs.gov/refunds
If accepted by the state use this TurboTax support FAQ to check the state tax refund status - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899433-how-do-i-track-my-state-refund

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.
See this IRS website for federal tax refund FAQ's - https://www.irs.gov/refunds/tax-season-refund-frequently-asked-questions

[Critter]

DID I FILE MY RETURN?

 Some clarification is needed here. Only you can e-file your tax return. Nobody else can do it for you. You are the one who has to click that "TRANSMIT MY RETURNS NOW" button. When you have transmitted your return to the IRS, you will receive two e-mails. You will receive physically separate e-mails for a state return, if a state return is filed, for a total of four e-mails. Two from federal, and two from the state.

The first e-mail informs you that you have successfully TRANSMITTED your return to the IRS. This e-mail usually arrives in 10-15 minutes. If you don't have that e-mail, then you did not finish the process.

 The second email informs you if your transmitted return was accepted, or rejected by the IRS. If rejected, follow the link in the e-mail to deal with the rejection issue. This second e-mail can take as long as 48 hours before you receive it. Once your return is accepted, DO NOT lose that e-mail. It's the only solid proof you have, that the IRS accepted your e-filed return. Without it, should the IRS claim you did not file a return, you lose the argument. If it's not in writing, it did not occur.

Once you have that e-mail indicated the IRS has ACCEPTED your return, TurboTax has fulfilled the obligation you paid them for, and TurboTax is no longer in this equation anymore.

Just because the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, does not mean they agree with it. It can take 4 weeks or longer for them to process it. To follow the processing, you can do that at https://www.irs.gov/refunds  It will take 48-72 hours after the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, before it will show up on that IRS website.

[syrup0101]

I chose to mail my return. It’s been well over a month. When I try to call both IRS and TurboTax on the status of my refund, they cannot find it at all. I have all the order numbers and support numbers that has been given to me but still nothing.

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

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@syrup0101 wrote:

I chose to mail my return. It’s been well over a month. When I try to call both IRS and TurboTax on the status of my refund, they cannot find it at all. I have all the order numbers and support numbers that has been given to me but still nothing.

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The IRS phones are not accepting calls until the IRS workers come back to man the phones.  The IRS is not processing paper tax returns at this time.

See this IRS website - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue