After you file

This first comment will be how to be sure your return was successfully filed.   Then I'll provide another comment on how to find your refund choice.

 

Since your refund has been taking so long, you first need to be sure the return was successfully filed and accepted (if efiled.) It depends on how you chose to file the return.

 

If you filed a paper return by mail, TurboTax does not mail it for you.  If you chose that method, you would have had to print it, sign it, date it, and mail it yourself.  It takes at least 4 weeks for a mailed return to show up in the IRS WMR tool.

 

  If you efiled, double-check to be sure the return was efiled successfully and accepted.  If you used Online TurboTax, you can sign into your Online Account and check the efile status at the Tax Home.   What word is used there for the status:  accepted, rejected, printed, started, ready to mail, or something else?


If the Tax Home showed it was accepted, (or if you mailed a paper return), you can use the "Where's My Refund" tool at the IRS website below to monitor the status of your Federal refund.   Is there any message there?   Has the IRS finished processing the return and released the refund, or is it still being processed?
https://www.irs.gov/wheres-my-refund

 

Here are some tips when using that IRS tool:

 

  • Be sure you enter the correct tax year, SSN, and filing status.
  • Be sure you are using only the Federal refund amount.   Do not include any state refund or any total refund or net refund (Fed and State) that TurboTax may have provided on a summary screen.  
  • Look at your actual Federal return to get the Federal refund amount to use in the tool, i.e., your Form 1040, Line 35a.