You don't receive your return. Your tax return is the form you send to the IRS that shows your income and calculates your tax. The money the IRS sends back to you is your refund.
The way to know if the IRS received a mailed tax return is to send it by a service that provides tracking and confirmation of delivery, such as certified mail with a return receipt. If you didn't do that, all you can do is wait until it shows up on Where's My Refund? on the IRS web site, or until you get some communication from the IRS. They are severely backlogged this year in processing mailed tax returns. It could take 6 months or more.
