Federal Tax Refund

[ar2024]

Filed my taxes back on 3/14/2024. Filed electronically, Married filing jointly, three children. Both returns, state (CA) and federal accepted but no refund from the federal yet. We had a solar system installed last year and we rely on the refund money to pay an outstanding depth to the solar company and there is a deadline. On the IRS Refund Tracker page, the status of the return is 'Returned Received'. It's now well over a month and the 21-day time frame in which IRS is expected to send the refund. What can and should we do?

Thanks

[CatinaT1]

Once your return is filed, TurboTax has no control over the processing of your return or the release of your refund. Unfortunately, the IRS is the only one who can answer that. The only thing to do is wait.

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"?

[ar2024]

Thank you for your answer. So there is no way of being proactive here at all? For example, visiting or scheduling an appointment at a local IRS office, could that do anything? When you say the best thing to do is to wait, based on your experience how long can it take?  Please note on the IRS tracker there is no indication that the IRS is awaiting any information from me, other than it is just being processed. 

Thanks

[CatinaT1 · Accepted solution]

No, unfortunately there is not much you can do. You could make an appointment with the IRS office, but they likely will not be able to tell you much. 

It might be easiest to set up an account with the IRS. I don't know that it will provide more information, but it might.

IRS Individual Online Account  

• Taxpayers with a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number can create or access their IRS Individual Online Account to get information they need to file their return.
• With an IRS Individual Online Account, people can:
• View balance owed, payment history and schedule payments.
• Cancel scheduled payments – new feature for 2024.
• Get transcripts.
• View or create payment plans.
• See digital copies of some IRS notices.
• View key data from their most recently filed tax return, including adjusted gross income.
• Validate bank accounts and save multiple accounts, eliminating the need to re-enter bank account information every time they make a payment.
• View, approve and electronically sign power of attorney and tax information authorizations from their tax professional.