Why is my refund still pending when the irs sent it out on January 6,2021

[Critter-3]

What does "Pending" mean?

Pending simply means that your e-filed return is on its way and that the government hasn't accepted or rejected it yet.

If you e-filed your return in January, it'll stay in Pending status until the IRS starts processing the backlog of returns hopefully sometime the end of this month or early next month.

After January, e-filed returns generally sit in Pending status for 24–48 hours before coming back as either Accepted or Rejected. Sometimes state returns stay in Pending for several days or even longer.

Keep calm and check back

Until your state or the IRS processes your return,  you may hear there's "no record found." That actually means the return's still being processed. Just check back in a few days.

Related Information:

• Why is my state e-file still pending?
• Can I cancel a pending return?
• What does Accepted mean?
• Why doesn't the government have any record of my pending return?
• Can I amend a pending return?

[Anonymous]

Your refund couldn't have been sent out on January 6.  You are likely seeing that the IRS sent your economic impact payment on that date.  

[She]

That’s not what Turbo tax says! My account says that it was transmitted and now they’re saying it probably wasn’t transmitter they didn’t file my return?  But they definitely charged me for the upgrade! Where is my refund said they have no information on my status.