Only the IRS can tell you why they have not yet released your Federal refund. I'll tell you how to reach a live IRS agent below. If you can't get good answers from the IRS, I'll also be telling you below how to contact the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service.
Here's how to reach a live agent at the IRS:
800-829-1040 (7AM-7 PM local time)
When calling the IRS
- First choose your language.
- Listen to each menu before making a selection.
- Do not choose the first choice re: question about a "Refund", or it will send you to an automated phone line.
- Continue on and press 2 for "personal income tax".
- Then press 1 for "form, tax history, or payment".
- Then press 3 "for all other questions."
- Then press 2 "for all other questions."
- If it then asks for your SSN, do NOT enter it. It will ask a second time. Do NOT enter it.
- Then it will proceed. At next menu press 2 for "personal".
- It should then transfer you to an agent at that point, but there is likely to be a long wait.
I usually use a speakerphone so I can work on something else while waiting.
If you don't get good info/results from the IRS, you can contact the IRS Taxpayer Advocate for your area. They are especially prone to help if you have a hardship, or if there have been continued delays with lack of info from the IRS. At the following IRS website, find the USA map and click on your state, and it will give you the number of your IRS Taxpayer Advocate.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-a-Local-Taxpayer-Advocate
Also see this article for more info on how the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service works::
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc104.html
