Additionally, I have seen how we might be "rescued" from Pending Purgatory: TT eventually figures out that there is an error in the return that TT is generating that is keeping the returns from being accepted by the IRS or state taxing systems. They fix the problem, mark our returns as Rejected. We submit our returns again, and this time the process works as expected.
As I understand it, our returns are likely sitting on some TT server somewhere.
Once the return has a Pending status, there is nothing you can do to fix it. The return status has to be set to Rejected by someone or some system at TT. At that point, you can "fix" it. For a bunch of folks who were stuck at Pending in CA, they eventually had their status set to Rejected. Then, these users simply stepped through the submission process, and this solved their problem. So, their status magically went from Pending to Rejected, and they received notification in email and in TT when this happened. They re-submitted their returns, and their status went to Pending, and within hours or a few days, the status went to Accepted as you would expect.
If a return hasn't been Accepted, then it's not yet at the IRS, and the IRS tools will simply show that it has never been received. Same with the state systems.
Hope this helps.
