After you file

The IRS has made an announcement this year that they are more backlogged than they have ever been.  They have said that the delays in processing returns have affected over 6 million taxpayers.  Apparently, you’re one of them.

The IRS has said that most refunds will be processed within 21 days.  If you have to mail in a paper return, if you make math errors, if you claim credits that you are not entitled to – any of these can delay processing for months.

TurboTax doesn’t know anything about your refund.  Once your tax return is complete TurboTax either lets you print it in order to mail it or lets you e-file it.  Either way they don’t have anything to do with it once you’re done.  And they don’t have any way to find out what’s going on with it.

If you e-filed the return, then TurboTax sent you some emails about it.  You need to make sure that it was accepted by the IRS.  If you’ve been using the Where’s My Refund tool on the IRS website and your return has shown up as ‘processing’ then it was already accepted, you don’t have to check anything else.  

If you haven’t been then this is the tool you want to use to track your refund.  It is not updated terribly often but it’s the best option out there.

If you feel that you must contact the IRS just be aware that they are heavily understaffed and backlogged.  They’re not easy to get a hold of.  Call first thing in the morning and prepare to be on hold for a long time.  This is the link to use to get ahold of them.