topic Re: Does it take mins or hours before my return will e approved in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Does it take mins or hours before my return will e approved

daniell01012-out — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:30:22 GMT

how long does it take to accept my refund

Re: Does it take mins or hours before my return will e approved

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 14:42:27 GMT

It can take minutes or several days......we cannot tell you how long it will take for your return to be accepted or rejected.

Did you e-file? Did you click a big orange button that said “Transmit my returns now?”

When you e-file your federal return you will receive two emails from TurboTax. The first one will say that your return was submitted. The second email will tell you if your federal return was accepted or rejected. If you e-filed a state return, there will be a third email to tell you if the state accepted or rejected your state return.

First, check your e-file status to see if your return was accepted:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/efile-status-lookup/

If the IRS accepted it, what does it say here?

https://www.irs.gov/refunds

Or does your account say “Ready to Mail?”

Note: If it says “Ready to Mail” or “Printed” that means YOU have to mail it yourself. TurboTax does not mail your tax return for you.

Re: Does it take mins or hours before my return will e approved

MoniqueLO_ — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 16:24:39 GMT

Refunds usually take about 21 days after the IRS has accepted your e-filed return. Please see this Help Article for information on the timeframe of refunds, checking to see if your e-filed return was accepted, and how to check the status of your refund.

If the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, you can check the status of your refund by going directly to: https://www.irs.gov/refunds

Additionally, you can check out this Help Article for instructions on how to track your state refund.

@daniell01012-out

Re: Does it take mins or hours before my return will e approved

Carl — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 16:33:26 GMT

DID I FILE MY RETURN?

Only you can e-file your tax return. Nobody else can do it for you. You are the one who has to click that "TRANSMIT MY RETURNS NOW" button. When you have transmitted your return to the IRS, you will receive two e-mails. You will receive two physically separate e-mails for a state return, if a state return is filed, for a total of four e-mails. Two from federal, and two from the state.

The first e-mail informs you that you have successfully TRANSMITTED your return to the IRS. This e-mail usually arrives in 10-15 minutes. If you don't have that e-mail, then you did not finish the process.

The second email informs you if your transmitted return was accepted, or rejected by the IRS. If rejected, follow the link in the e-mail to deal with the rejection issue. This second e-mail can take as long as 48 hours before you receive it. Once your return is accepted, DO NOT lose that e-mail. It's the only solid proof you have, that the IRS accepted your e-filed return. Without it, should the IRS claim you did not file a return, you lose the argument. If it's not in writing, it did not occur.

Once you have that e-mail indicated the IRS has ACCEPTED your return, TurboTax has fulfilled the obligation you paid them for, and TurboTax is no longer in this equation anymore.

Just because the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, does not mean they agree with it. It can take 4 weeks or longer for them to process it. To follow the processing, you can do that at https://www.irs.gov/refunds It will take 48-72 hours after the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, before it will show up on that IRS website.

REASONS YOU MAY NOT GET THE CONFIRMATION E-MAILS

You did not click the TRANSMIT MY RETURNS NOW button and/or did not *F*I*N*I*S*H* working through the program after you did click it.
The e-mail address you provided is wrong
The email was moved to your junk, trash or spam folder by your email program, or depending on how things are set up on your end, the email was deleted entirely.
Yourr e-mail provider marked the e-mail as spam and moved it to your *ONLINE* junk, trash or spam folder, or just deleted the email entirely with no notification to you. That’s your provider’s fault. Not yours or TurboTax’s fault.
You deleted the email without reading it, mistaking it for spam from TurboTax.