There's absolutely no reason to
think that you're under review, being audited, or that anything is wrong with your tax return, so please don't
worry or be concerned at this point. The activity you describe
on the IRS's "Where's My Refund" website sounds
normal enough. The messages and bars on the Where's
My Refund webpage change all of the time; and sometimes the same message is
displayed continuously, or the bars disappear entirely.
Not all tax returns are identical either, and so they move through the
IRS processing system at various speeds. Other factors causing delays and increased refund
processing times for many people this year are several new laws and executive orders
that the IRS has been charged with implementing, including those of the 2015 PATH act.
If your tax return ever is
chosen for further review, or an actual audit, then the website should indicate
that, and also let you know to expect an IRS notice or letter by mail.
(You haven't observed any message like that, have you?)
Taxpayers who do have their returns
held for review, and who expect to receive an IRS notice, tell us that this
message appears clearly on the Where's My Refund website. The
behavior that you observe is more likely an indicator that your tax return is
simply moving through the processing system. It could also be that the
IRS is checking for additional information on something related to your tax
return (like matching your reported W-2 data with that separately reported to
the IRS by your employer); but we wouldn't call that a review . . . perhaps
only a delay.
If
enough time passes after filing (21 days after e-file, or 6 weeks after
paper file), and there is no new information, at that time the IRS
indicates that you can call them, using the
phone number provided on their Where's My Refund website. As it is already beyond the 21 day period for you (as indicated by the dates in the text of your question), you are welcome to either call the IRS, or to continue and wait.
Above, the best recommended course of action is patience. In fact, when it comes to the processing of tax returns, sometimes no news is good news (in that there's nothing adverse to your tax refund claim that the government has to report). Please also remember that IRS doesn't move nearly as fast as taxpayers would sometimes like (especially when waiting for a
refund). Also, as noted above, the 2016 tax year may be particularly slow, due to factors that are outside of our control.
Thank you for asking
this question.
