@CuriousWhale wrote:
It also makes no sense to me because they accept the W2s on the employer side
A tax return being "accepted" just means it has passed the most basic quality control checks and is downloaded into the IRS computers for processing. It does not mean the IRS will pay the claimed refund or even that the IRS agrees with the figures. All that happens later, and can take years for all the data to be matched and checked. "Accepted" means the return agrees with all the IRS screening criteria. For example that the name and SSN match, the math adds up correctly, a dependent isn't claimed twice, if the dependent care credit is claimed, the care providers's tax number must be included, and so on. Apparently, high withholding but not low withholding is an acceptance criteria, no one here could tell you why.
