@simba---
I'm a fellow user, not a tax person, so I'm not going to comment on any of the income items and filing situations in your post, but I'll concentrate on how you can check on your Federal refund and get some help.
I'll tell you four things in this post. Some of it you may have already done. For instance, you didn't say if your efiled return was accepted and if you have been using the WMR tool or not. So I'll mention all of that.
The four things will be:
- How to check to be sure you efiled successfully (assuming you filed that way.)
- How to check on your refund using the IRS WMR tool.
- How to phone the IRS to see if you can learn about the delay.
- How to seek help from the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, if needed. They are especially prone to help if there is a hardship.
If you efiled, double-check that your efiled returns were accepted. If you used Online TurboTax, log in and go to the Tax Home and check the efile status.
If the Tax Home says your return was accepted, you can use the IRS "Where's My Refund" tool:
https://www.irs.gov/Refunds
What does that tool tell you?
If the IRS tool says it is still being processed, then if it's been longer than 21 days since an efiled return was accepted, here's how to reach a live IRS agent to inquire about the delay, although it may not be easy. They are extremely busy due to staff shortages and all the stimulus questions on top of tax-filing questions:
IRS: 800-829-1040 (7AM-7 PM local time) Monday-Friday
When calling the IRS do not choose the first choice re: "Refund", or it will send you to an automated phone line.
- First choose your language. Then listen to each menu before making the selection.
- Then 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."
- It may then ask for your SSN, but do not enter it. Just wait. If it asks for SSN a second time, still do not enter it.
- Then it will get "tired", and you'll get another menu. Choose 2 for "personal".
- Then in the next menu choose 4 for "all other inquiries", and it should transfer you to an agent but expect a long wait.
- I usually use a speakerphone so I can work on something else while waiting.
If you have no luck reaching the IRS or if you don't get good info, you can try contacting the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service for your area. They are especially prone to help if you have an economic 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. If the IRS Taxpayer Advocate can't/won't help you, ask them to transfer you to an an IRS agent. A couple of users reported that at least for them, that was a backdoor route to the IRS.
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
