After you file

mesquitebean · ‎July 3, 2022

@ deambriaabner wrote:
I filed my taxes back in February. I received a letter in the mail in April for me to identify myself. I called in and did that April 21. Letter indicated that it could take up to 9 weeks to move along the process. As of June 23rd being the 9th week and today is July 4, what is going on with my return refund? I cant get in contact with anybody, so what do I do? What does this mean? Do I amend my return?

"What does this mean?

It means the IRS is way behind on processing returns that require any manual review. While 9 weeks after ID verification may have been a good estimate in normal years, the last couple of years have not been normal. The IRS has been way behind.

"What is going on with my return refund?"

Only the IRS can know that. I'll tell you how to phone the IRS below to see if you can learn anything about the delay. If you have a hardship or difficulty reaching the IRS, I've also provided info on contacting the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service.

"Do I amend my return?"

Amend it for what?? Why do you mention amending? Do you need to correct something that would require an amendment? If the IRS finds something wrong, they may correct it for you, or otherwise contact you again. Or do you know that you need to amend something? If you need to amend something from your end, you need to wait until your original return has completely finished processing and your refund, if applicable, is received.

You can phone the IRS to see if you can learn anything about the delay, but be warned the IRS is not easy to reach. I have found that for me it was best to call just before closing time--about 6:50-6:55 PM and go through the steps below. I figured a lot of folks would not call that close to closing, and that if I was one of the last to get into the queue, they would finish off all the people who were in the queue at closing time. I still had to wait about 25-30 minutes.

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 don't get satisfactory information, you can try contacting the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service for your area. They are especially prone to help if you have a financial hardship, or if there have been continued delays with lack of info from the IRS. At the following IRS website, select your state from the dropdown menu, and it will give you the number of your IRS Taxpayer Advocate. If the Taxpayer Advocate can't/won't help you, ask them to transfer you to 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