@ user17683086956
I don't know if the following will work for NC, but in my experience it works anecdotally for me for the Federal return. When I'm not getting a Federal refund, I enter $1 in the IRS tool, and it usually responds that it is being processed. The IRS tool may not work in a later stage, however, since it can't say "refund approved" when there is no refund. In any case, see if the NC tool will take $1 as an entry.
