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FINAL UPDATE:  My Colorado State refund has now been completely processed and the refund deposited into my checking account.

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So, here's a final summary of the timeline for Colorado State to process my tax return and deposit my refund:

• My return showed "Accepted" in TurboTax on February 5, 2026. This is when Colorado state placed it in their "Return Not Received or Not Yet Processed" BLACK HOLE queue.
• My return advanced to the "Return Received & Being Processed" stage on February 19, 2026.
• The timeline to this point shows it took Colorado 14 days to start processing my return.
• My return advanced to the "Refund Reviewed" stage on February 21, 2026.
• I added 2 more days to the timeline, which made it 16 days at this point.
• My return advanced to the "Refund Approved and Sent" final stage on February 28, 2026.
• I added 7 more days to the timeline, which made it 23 days at this point.
• My refund was deposited into my checking account on March 3, 2026.
• I added 3 more days to the timeline, which made it a total of 26 days for Colorado State to completely process my return and deposit the refund into my account.

This is just my opinion.  I believe these extended timelines are now the new norm for Colorado State to process tax returns because of the additional measures they take to prevent fraud.  Also, when they start processing returns at the beginning of each tax season, it takes them time to ramp up and catch up with the backlog of early filers.  Hopefully this will help everyone to somewhat set your own expectations for the processing of your tax return with the State.  Hang in their everyone!  There is light at the end of the tunnel!